Founder of Egypt’s Christian Brotherhood denies sectarian agenda.

Founder of Egypt’s Christian Brotherhood denies sectarian agenda.(AlArabiya).By Walid Abdel Rahman.The founder of a new group called Christian Brotherhood denied allegations about the group’s exclusive focus on Christians and stressed its dedication to national issues and the principles of citizenship.
Prominent Egyptian political analyst and founder of the Christian Brotherhood Michel Fahmy said there is no direct relationship between the creation of the group and current events.“The idea of the group came to me a long time ago and it was not triggered by the death of Pope Shenouda or the formation of the Constituent Assembly in charge of drafting the constitution,” Fahmy told Al Arabiya’s Studio Cairo Sunday.
According to Fahmy, the Christian Brotherhood does not have any religious agenda and that is why it is different from the Muslim Brotherhood.“The Muslim Brotherhood is originally a preaching group, but we are not.”
The similarity between both groups, Fahmy explained, is basically the fact that the Christian Brotherhood wants to take part in the political scene like the Muslim Brotherhood does.“We can reap the fruits of our efforts decades later like what happened with the Muslim Brotherhood, but we are not after power.”
For the time being, Fahmy added, the Christian Brotherhood is mainly concerned with the issue of citizenship for all Egyptians, not only Christians.“The name of the group aims at highlighting its Christian character and the way it aims at introducing Christians to the Egyptian society as an effective group that can take part in the country’s development.”
Fahmy also denied that the group is affiliated to the church even though the idea originated in the Anglican Church.“Our only relationship with the church is prayer. People need to realize that Christians can play a role apart from the church and that the church is for preaching purposes and not politics.”
The group’s main priority, Fahmy noted, is to become part of civil society not through providing people with monetary funds, but rather through tackling the most critical issues Egypt is currently facing such as illiteracy, the marginalization of women, and challenges to tourism industry.
The slogan chosen for the group is similar with variation to the one the Muslim Brotherhood has been adopting since its inception: “Love of Egypt is the solution.”
For Fahmy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s slogan “Islam is the solution” alienates many Egyptians while the Christian Brotherhood’s slogan includes all and rejects all sorts of divisions.
Fahmy refuted allegations that the Christian Brotherhood was formed in order to become the Christian version of the Muslim Brotherhood.“We have studied the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and we made sure to avoid all the mistakes they had committed which made their failures more than their successes.”
In addition to deepening the rift between Christians and Muslims, Gobrail argued that the establishment of the Christian Brotherhood is likely to lead to the establishment of more Islamist groups.“Many extremist groups can be formed by Islamists in response to the Christian Brotherhood and this is not the right time to risk such a reaction that is bound to complicate things more,” he concluded.Read the full story here.