Things to Straighten - Priest Pundits

The Coptic Church has an image problem.

Every few days, a talk show on one of the myriad of satellite channels that air in the Arab world hosts a Coptic priest, to speak about one topic or another.

Two priests in particular keep being invited. Father Abdel Massih Bassit, and Father Salib Matta Sawires.

These shows provide an invaluable opportunity for the Coptic Orthodox

Church to present its viewpoint, its perspective, its ideas on various topics. Sometimes the priests are brought in to act as apologetics on behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to defend its theology and dogma.

Unfortunately, these two priests do not exactly...represent the Church's "best foot forward."

Neither priest is embued with any sense of real knowledge or authority. Father Bassit usually takes it upon himself to defend the person of the Pope without actually addressing the issues at hand. As for Father Sawires, he sometimes provides answers that are in direct contradiction to Christian dogma (in a recent episode with Amr Adeeb on "Al Qahera Alyoum", he said that Christians are not allowed to eat pork because it's forbidden in the book of Leviticus - a complete lie).

The Church needs to take charge of its image. The bishops overseeing these priests should reign them in. No priest who is not authorized should appear on these satellite shows - only those who have been chosen by the church to speak on its behalf officially, and who, for lack of a better word, know what they're talking about.

Things to Straighten: Protestant Thought in Coptic Churches

Anyone who has been to St. Mark's in Washington D.C. or St. John in West Covina, CA knows what we're talking about.

• You hear the sound of guitar strumming, and you see people waving their hands in the air.
• You hear terms like "worship group" and your "favorite worship song"
• You hear a supposedly Orthodox priest (We're looking straight at you, "Abouna" Anthony Messeh), calling Jesus "my homeboy"
• You hear of groups called "Crazy 4 Christ High School Ministry"
• You see scenes from "The Passion of the Christ" on Holy and Great Friday.
• You hear a servant (now a priest - "Abouna" Paul Girguis) tell his audience that his "cross" that he has to bear on Holy and Great Friday is all those "Coptic hymns"

You are in a Protestant church veiled by a thin veneer of Coptic Orthodoxy.

Well, enough is enough. These churches have to be brought into line.

Instead of looking to a Western Christianity that is devoid of all the depth, the priests and servants of these churches must be taught how to convey the richness of the Orthodox faith to their congregations.

These churches need to hunker down, start readings some writings from the Fathers of the Church, and get back to being Orthodox churches for real, not just in name.

Holy Week

A blessed Holy Week to all Copts world-wide. This truly is the best week of the year.

Don't know why we felt like we needed to start this blog this week.

Our Purpose

This is a blog by free-thinking Copts who want to express views they normally cannot share in open forums in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

No topic will be too controversial to examine. No censorship will be exercised. No false pretenses of bowing to any authority will be exercised. Only the free thoughts of the authors of this blog, and their critics (that's right...if you don't like what we are writing, you can respond...and we won't censor you either!)

This blog is not for the faint-hearted. We will sometimes be harsh, and always irreverent. But know that we do this not out of hate for the Coptic Orthodox Church, but out of our deep, sincere love for Her, and our desire to expose things that we consider are worth examining and criticising.