Is Mubarak's Son and Likely Successor Good for Egyptian Christians?

Is Mubarak's Son and Likely Successor Good for Egyptian Christians? Opinion is Divided.

The Christian community in Egypt is divided regarding Gamal Mubarak. Mubarak is the son of current ruler Hosni Mubarak and widely viewed as his likely successor. Hosni Mubarak is 81 years old.Christians are estimated to represent between six and 12 percent of Egypt's population. Most Christians belong to the Egyptian Orthodox, or Coptic Church. Copts are Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first century. In fact the word Copt means Egyptian. The history of the Coptic Church traditionally begins with the visit of the Holy Family (baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph) to Egypt. They lived there for some time.

While leaders of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church have voiced support for Gamal Mubarak as the preferred candidate for president, some Christian activists are calling for demonstrations against what they see as official state bias (through Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party) against Christians.

"Comments in support of Gamal Mubarak by church officials don't represent the opinion of all Egypt's Copts," says Youssef Sidhoum, editor-in-chief of Coptic weekly Al-Watani. Meanwhile, he says “calls for strikes and demonstrations by online Coptic activists represent only the views of a small minority within the Coptic community."

According to Hafez Abu Saeda, secretary-general of the Cairo-based Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the church's apparent support for Gamal at least partly reflects longstanding Coptic fears of an Islamist government. But he also warns against making generalizations. "In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the church instructed Copts to vote for the NDP," said Abu Saeda. "Nevertheless, those elections saw Copts voting for Muslim Brotherhood candidates in some cases."