http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-egypts-pope-criticizes-islamists-195303020.html

 

“We are a part of the soil of this nation and an extension of the pharaohs and their age before Christ. Yes, we are a minority in the numerical sense, but we are not a minority when it comes to value, history, interaction and love for our nation,” he said.

 

His Holiness is right to assert that the Coptic Christian community pre dates the Islamic conquest of the seventh thru ninth centuries  His annoyance with constantly being relegated to minority status should resonate with Americans who are currently battling to empower all so-called minorities.  However, unlike USA where recent minorities actually are such, the Coptic Christian community dates from the earliest Christian era, in the first century, (that’s 0 to 99 years) Anno Domini.