2002
Copy of what was sent to Paolo Mieli in 2002
TO: Dr. Paolo Mieli (paolo.mieli@rcs.it)
FROM : G. Eid
SUBJECT: The Newly Persecuted
I hope you have had time to get acquainted with at least the index of the book I gave you at the end of your speech entitled Christians and Muslims Around 2000, published by Pauline.
Despite your many commitments I ask you to read page 27, written eight years ago. I believe that Muslim centers are bombs that one day or another will explode, at least if Italians in the meantime, especially the public authorities, do not rediscover their identity and apply the law without hesitation. In the long term these are dangerous centers, not just because they are Muslim, but because of the identity of the financier, their second undeclared purpose, and the type of people involved in their management. It took Jewish personalities to raise this subject!
Without presumption, I propose my opinion on the questions you asked the public that evening. The opinion of a Christian Arab who emigrated from Egypt to Italy.
1) Why hasn’t the Church intervened?
Despite the fact that in the Middle East Catholic Christians are a small minority, all of them, Protestant and Orthodox Catholics alike, refuse interference from abroad in order to avoid being identified with the western world, thus increasing the discrimination taking place (p.93 of the book.) and consolidating the prejudice of being considered foreigners in their own country.
2) Why doesn’t the media talk about it? Public opinion, authorities…
1. Frankly, Italians are modest when speaking of religion or professing one’s faith to others; even many priests and religious individuals are fearful… lacking a missionary spirit.
2. TV broadcasts are deleterious: I remember those of Santoro who enjoyed putting Muslims on a pedestal in terms of morals, religion, etc.. contrasting dissolute Christian characters, with the cross well in sight. I complained about this fact with Cardini when he was sitting on the CDA of RAI, but without result.
3. Economic interests prevail over the rest. Muslim heads of state do not dissociate religion from economic bargaining, while our leaders are not interested. The void is interpreted by the Muslim interlocutor as being truthful.
4. Famous intellectuals are left-wing and consequently pro-Arab and pro-Islamic. This disinformation was evident during the last Lebanese war.
I thank you for your intervention in favor of the Arab Christians with the hope that this seed will flourish and bear fruit.
Best regards,
Giuseppe Samir Eid
ANNEX:
There is no shortage of examples of discrimination in the Arab world:
· A church’s construction must be authorized by the President of the Republic
· Renouncing the Islamic faith is punishable by death
· A Muslim woman is forbidden to marry a Christian
Women’s civil rights are halved compared to men’s in the Personal Status Act:
· Testimony
· lnheritance
· Repudiation/polygamy
· Choice of groom (unable to marry a non-Muslim)
· Freedom of movement (permission to visit, passports…)
· Practice of certain trades: for example, a woman cannot be a magistrate because she is beneath a man and is unable to judge him
Other links to equality between citizens at the dawn of the 21st century:
· Prohibition for non-Muslims to teach Arabic language and literature or to graduate in gynecology
· Access to public posts (in Egypt, out of 300 central P.A. directives and 400 P.A. directives of public companies, only 15 are C.)
· Prohibition of freedom of interpretation of the Sharia (The Hesba case is in progress in Egypt)
· Testimony in court against a Muslim
Although it is not the case to detail the differences between Islamic teaching and Christianity, here are some examples that we find in Islamic teaching, even in Italy:
· The Torah and the Gospel are accused of being falsified
· Judas died on the cross instead of Christ
· Christians are Polytheists because of the Trinity
· Islam is the best religion, and therefore the source of law and socio-political order
· The Koran contains all the knowledge relating to religion and to a relationship with God; they refuse to refer to other sources
· They do not conceive: Incarnation, Redemption, Trinity
· They do not accept any mediation between men and God
Mieli’s Response:
Dear Eid, you delicately and without animosity reveal the fig leaf with which you cover the ignorant and cowardly superficiality (of which Santoro is the unsurpassed champion) of the dominant mentality that informs most of our media (not excluding our “Christian families”). We are at the catastrophe of education and reason, in every sector of civil life. But let us not despair. We know that, also thanks to suffering and, as Socci documents, often in the atrocious martyrdom of our Arab Christian brothers in Muslim land, the dawn of a new civilization is beginning. Yes, we are the empire at the end of decadence, the seed of Christ’s victory in the world. A victory that, as our dear persecuted brothers show, wins every sword and needs no sword, no violence, no abuse of power. For it is in our flesh that He, our dear joy, demonstrates His Lordship over reality. Long live the Christian people!
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator