Egypt has long been a political and intellectual center of the Middle East with a history of civilization stretching back millennia. It has served and still serves today as home to adherents of the world's great religions who, despite occasional friction, have lived together largely in peace and harmony. It would be a shame to see such traditions on shaky ground because of the murderous bent of small minds. On Thursday, Coptic Christians celebrated their holiest holiday with a midnight religious service in the southern town of Nag Hamadi. While filing from the church, the Copts were met with machine gunfire that felled six of the celebrants and a Muslim soldier. According to press reports, the killing is due to a local feud gone horribly wrong. A Christian man is accused of raping a young Muslim girl, a horrendous crime that should be punished in court. But extremists with no proven ties to the victim have decided to exact vengeance against innocent bystanders. This senseless act has not just broken families apart but has also inflamed tensions between Egypt's large Muslim community and its sizable Christian minority. Over the years, there have been local disputes between Muslims and Christians, some of which have been exacerbated by either side and turned out to be deadly. Over time, the disputes have cooled off and the Egyptians have returned to living in peace, showing off with pride the ethnic and religious diversity of their ancient nation. There is no need for the current confrontation to go any further. Already, sectarian strife has plagued other nations in the region for ages. It holds dangerous portents; it destroys the very edifice of a peaceful and harmonious life. What ought to be done is for the powers that be to remain always attentive to it and act beforehand as soon as they get a scent of it. They must act to nip the monster in the bud before it raises its ugly head and inflames violent sectarian tensions. However, it is difficult to imagine the horrid rape of a Muslim woman by a Christian man as religiously or politically motivated act. It is a crime, pure and simple, and should not prompt any mental gymnastics needed to perceive it as anything else or allow the extremists on both sides to exploit it. There is no denying the fact that Egypt has been one of the world's most beloved nations well before the seeds of sectarian conflict were sown. It would be highly tragic for it to sink into the abyss of hatred as a result of religious divide leading to worst kind of violence, which would be an abomination in the face of its glorious history. __
