Egypt's Christians Tattoo Children As Mark Of Pride And Protection

GlobalPost:

An Irishman, who asked to go only by Allen, arrived in Cairo four years ago to visit family here. He brought his tattoo equipment for fun but quickly found that there was a thirst among certain Egyptians to indulge in the art form that had been so absent from their culture.

Read the whole story: GlobalPost

Comments

[minimalist syntax]

03:19 PM on 10/15/2009

For those of you who find Coptic cultural practices of tattooing barbaric, let me ask you about your position on other cultural practices that shape the identity of an individual in a community. Let me ask you about a practice closer to home.

Are you outraged that working class parents in Philadelphia speak to their infants in a working class Philadelphian accent? The child is not of the age of consent and so cannot choose to accept or reject this marker of social identity. Indeed, it will set them apart as "the other" every time they come into contact with upper middle class Philadelphians. They will become the object of ridicule to some and certain discrimination by others with more social power. What if the child wants to convert to a more standard social identity as an adult? How dare these parents impose their identities on their children knowing the consequences.

[minimalist syntax]

03:22 PM on 10/15/2009

edit: the child will automatically acquire the marker of social identity: "speaks with a working class Philadelphian accent" by virtue of the social practices of his/her parent.

[JohnFromCensornati]

04:56 PM on 10/15/2009

Minimal Sin Tax, this one is a joke, right?

[minimalist syntax]

06:05 PM on 10/15/2009

not at all.

[Thabit]

09:55 AM on 10/15/2009

With all of the statements by christians about what muslims do if someone choses to convert, these tatoos are so Copts that convert to Islam are easily recognizable and Copts kill those that convert to Islam. So much for turning the other cheek and all that "love"

[loOranks]

11:06 AM on 10/15/2009

Can you provide evidence of a Egyptian Copt killing someone for converting to Islam??
Because there are plenty of evidence for the other way around...!

[minimalist syntax]

02:40 PM on 10/15/2009

This is simply malicious slander. There is *no* tradition in Coptic Christianity of killing converts away from Christianity. In fact, "free will" is viewed as a gift from God.

[riff4u]

02:01 PM on 10/17/2009

I don't know what the Bible says, but the Quran states that there is no compulsion in religion. A persons free will is their choice to accept Islam from another faith or leave it for another faith.

[Schoolgirl666]

08:46 AM on 10/15/2009

Sounds like the treatment of the Afghani women under the guise of religion. Does this mean we have to start a war in Egypt now?

[fcsakes]

07:38 AM on 10/15/2009

Good grief - it's a tiny little cross, takes five minutes. The kid is either a crybaby or he is screaming for the picture. Millions of parents in America have their baby girl's ears pierced while only a few weeks old.

Trying to call this child abuse is ridiculous.

Want to take care of some children, get over to Africa and start digging some wells, distributing food and medicines, shooting their rapists.

[bgofca]

12:49 PM on 10/15/2009

If it is painful for even a minute, that is too long. 5 minutes in pain can seem much longer. I don't think piercing a babies ears is good either. I had mine pierced as a teen and it did hurt quite a bit and was sore for over a week. Things like tatoos and piercing should wait until the person is old enough to consent on their own. This isn't a worthwhile vaccine or a procedure to improve their health.

[piul05]

01:41 PM on 10/15/2009

What about male circumcision then?

[minimalist syntax]

02:44 PM on 10/15/2009

My sister pierced my ears when I was sixteen. She put ice on the lobes to numb them, held half a potato behind them as a target for a needle she had sterilized with alcohol. It hurt for all of two seconds. We had to do it secretly because my mom didn't allow us to pierce our ears.

[piul05]

03:54 PM on 10/15/2009

Exactly.

[Cryostatic]

07:31 AM on 10/15/2009

Pain is just the evil leaving your body.

[Maezeppa]

07:25 AM on 10/15/2009

How barbaric. Outrageous.

[loOranks]

11:07 AM on 10/15/2009

You didn't bother reading the actual article, now did you?? If you had, you'd have learnt that the Egyptian were sporting tatoos long before Islam came over... They're just getting back to their old habits...

[ChristopherAtom]

07:06 AM on 10/15/2009

Child in photo: God/Christ = Pain.

[pakaal]

03:07 AM on 10/15/2009

I want my foreskin back.

[Amalek]

06:13 AM on 10/15/2009

My friend the OB/GYN has a bottle full of them. He calls them his Spagetti-Os.

[RaWash]

01:17 AM on 10/15/2009

They have been doing it for decades, why is this news now?

[IssuesInFocus]

02:36 AM on 10/15/2009

This sounds so brutal. But it explains culture.
Christians being as brutal as when people carrying that name were thrown to lions in Rome in the old world. My earliest conception of tatoos-- farmers marking their cows at pasture. If they were stolen-- they could be tracked. Now tatoos have become high-end sport.
The Egyptians have friends/acquaintances/admirers of that level of 'sport' many places in the West. Can never imagine-- how such a painful ordeal is embraced in the name of 'love.' I leave the explanation -- and rightly so, to the sociologists/antropologists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdqdsWR_hhI

[minimalist syntax]

03:05 AM on 10/15/2009

As the article pointed out, from archeological evidence we know that Egyptians have been tatooing at least since 2,100 B.C.

[morganhoyle]

07:12 AM on 10/15/2009

Aww, way to patronize the little 'orientals' aren't we glad the 'west' and all it's infinite wisdom can come in and save them. Thanks for your ill informed post, I'm glad that "explains the culture" in a way you can understand.

[Norak]

01:02 AM on 10/15/2009

The parents had better hope the kids don't change their minds about their religious choice as they grow up.

[Weirdo]

11:57 PM on 10/14/2009

Oh, religion, is there anything you can't get people to do?

[jazzpotato]

01:33 AM on 10/15/2009

Can't get them to think for themselves.

[redkim]

11:45 PM on 10/14/2009

Treatment of Christians in Egypt videos:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TNd3c0K8Q&NR=1

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D1WhNwN5qk&feature=related

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOKKjaTAKQ&feature=related


Amnesty International's report on Egypt:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/egypt/page.do?id=1011147

There is simply no excuse for the level of ignorance shown on this site regarding how Christians are treated in Egypt and the Middle East. This is not a "Christian" issue: it is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue.

[RaWash]

01:34 AM on 10/15/2009

Egyptian Copts are self-defeating, this is acknowledged even amongst themselves (see conversion statistics in Egypt), other Christian minorities never made such accusations of mistreatment, why? the only REALLY oppressed minorities in Egypt are the Baha'ies, period.

[morganhoyle]

07:18 AM on 10/15/2009

Really, the "only really oppressed minority" what are you basing that on? Have you been here (to Egypt) before? Have you actually seen the ways that the Sudanese, Copts, shia orthodox, and Jew are treated? Obviously not.

[PWM]

09:38 AM on 10/15/2009

True. The Coptics are declining and rather than admit it, they cry persecution.

[Daniel Leyva]

11:33 PM on 10/14/2009

Christians will be Christians... barbaric and freakish everywhere!

[redkim]

11:53 PM on 10/14/2009

Bigot.

[Daniel Leyva]

12:14 AM on 10/15/2009

LOL

[kwinter]

01:18 AM on 10/15/2009

If recognizing barbaric behavior when you see it makes you a bigot ... then I guess I'm one too!

[Yank in France]

06:40 AM on 10/15/2009

Redkin is right, although I do not know if you are a bigot or just trying to gain attention.
Above all, I am sympathetic to the Coptics plight who have seen their rights eroded over the years in the context of numerous pogroms.
But then again, no one cares about pogroms against Christians be they on the self-righteous Christian or Jewish right or the PC left.

[Amalek]

10:41 PM on 10/14/2009

Where is the protection? Tattooing a child does not protect him, it marks him out for prosecution.

Christians who think that painting themselves with a cross will bring God's protection seriously misunderstand Christianity.

[JohnFromCensornati]

10:59 PM on 10/14/2009

It will keep vampires away.

[MadxAsxHell]

10:40 PM on 10/14/2009

I have met a number of Indian Christians (frequently from Goa) and they ALL had tatoos with Christian symbols, usually on their hands near their thumb and forefinger.

[Amalek]

10:43 PM on 10/14/2009

Heretics, each and every one of them.

[redkim]

11:13 PM on 10/14/2009

It is not a Christian heresy to have a tattoo.