THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR FUTURE

I WAS BORN INTO the Coptic Christian community in Egypt during a time of great social change.

In 1952, just four years after my birth, a group of nationalist military leaders launched a coup d'état, forcing Egypt's king Farouk to flee into exile. The revolutionary government abolished the monarchy, established a republic, and soon ended the British occupation of Egypt (which had begun in 1882). The leaders of the revolution brought both Islamic and socialist dogma into the new Egyptian government — the first time in history, to my knowledge, that you find socialism married to Islam.

Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser proclaimed himself chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and prime minister of the Republic in February 1954. Two years later, he was elected president. He became, in effect, the dictator of an Islamist-socialist military regime. Islamism and socialism are both totalitarian political systems that recognize no limits to the authority of the state. Both seek to control every aspect of public and private life.

So it should have come as no surprise when Nasser filled leadership positions in the government, corporations, and banks with army generals. By 1956, he began nationalizing all foreign commercial holdings, beginning with the Anglo-French-owned Suez Canal. He then nationalized foreign banks, including Barclays Bank, where two of my older brothers worked. He also nationalized private Egyptian companies and land holdings, placing large landowners under house arrest.

The small oil distributorship where my father worked was soon taken over by the state. I vividly recall the day my father came home from work, sat us down, and explained that he was out of a job. He had arrived at the office to find army officers standing guard. They told him the company was now the property of the state, and they sent my father and his associates home.

Another consequence of the Islamic- socialist takeover: The lives of Coptic Christians became much more difficult. The Copts' fortunes had risen and fallen over the centuries, but by the early 1900s, Christians and Muslims had been treated equally. Though Islam had been Egypt's dominant religion for more than a millennium, Christianity's roots in Egypt were much deeper. In fact, the Christian faith had thrived in Egypt from the first century on. According to Acts 2:10, Egyptian Jews were at the first Pentecost in Jerusalem, where they witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit and heard Peter preach. After deciding to follow Christ, they returned to Alexandria and began spreading their new faith. Mark the Evangelist (the writer of the Gospel of Mark) arrived there around AD 49 and became the first bishop of Alexandria. By the second century, Christianity was the majority religion in Egypt, and Alexandria became the leading center of Christian theology for more than two hundred years.

Fast forward to the mid-600s, when Muslim hordes invaded Egypt from Arabia. After gaining control, those early Islamists offered the Christian majority population three alternatives: convert to Islam, die by the sword, or pay the jizya tax and accept their status as dhimmi (non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic state). Wealthy Egyptians could afford to pay the 15 to 25 percent jizya tax. But most of the Coptic Christians were too poor to pay. Not wanting to die by the sword, many pretended to convert to Islam. They outwardly practiced the Muslim religion while inwardly trying to maintain their Christian faith. Believing one thing while practicing another proved too difficult for many of these conquered Christians. The harsh Islamic religion scorched the gospel out of their hearts, like the seeds that fell on stony ground in the Lord's parable of the sower. That's why a majority of Egyptians are Muslims today.

Despite their long presence in Egypt, Christians became second-class citizens after the revolution. They could no longer be heads of banks, corporations, universities, or local governments. Highly educated Christians were relegated to minimum-wage jobs, and less-qualified Muslims were favored for career advancement.

The Nasser regime encouraged an atmosphere of hostility toward Christians. Muslims began harassing Christians without cause. When I was at school or just walking down the street, I was often mocked, insulted, and sometimes beaten by young Muslims who knew I came from a Christian family.

Not all Muslims were hostile to me. I had some very good friends at school who came from moderate, enlightened Muslim homes. (Note: Even now, most Muslims do not fall into the extreme Islamist camp, but these voices of reason are largely muted in our world today.) It was primarily the working-class and illiterate Muslims who made life difficult for me and other Christians. Some parts of town were militant Muslim strongholds, and I didn't dare enter those neighborhoods alone, especially at night.

President Nasser clamped down on churches and Christian organizations. He revived old Ottoman-era laws restricting the rights of the dhimmi (Christians and Jews). For example, no new church could be built without the permission of the head of state. Also, no evangelism or missionary work was permitted outside church walls. These laws are still enforced today.

Nasser increased the number of paid and unpaid informants to the point that you never knew who might be a government spy. In businesses, in schools, and on the street, everyone was afraid to say anything critical of the government. Even at home, people spoke only in whispers, fearing an informant might overhear. The government employed student informants to report on their classmates. My parents warned me to be extremely careful about anything I said at school.

As a young man, I went to libraries and checked out books on American freedom and American ideals. I was fascinated, even mesmerized, by the freedoms Americans enjoyed. I was especially drawn to ideas such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. At the same time, I worried that someone at the library might report to the government the kinds of books I was checking out. Yet I couldn't stop reading and dreaming of America.

WHY I CHERISH FREEDOM

In 1977, I realized my dream and moved to the United States; in 1984, I achieved my goal of becoming a citizen. My early years living under a socialist dictatorship, immersed in a hostile Muslim culture, gave me a perspective on our American freedoms that many native-born Americans don't have. In my heart, I was an American long before I became a citizen. I had yearned to be an American years before I ever reached these shores.

After arriving here, I was dismayed to see...