To recap the story of Max Michel, he was a student of the theological school in Cairo who became quite disgruntled with Pope Shenouda. He went off the rails in the US and was "ordained" by some fake Orthodox (we deride them as Orthoducks) group in Nebraska to be a rival Pope in Egypt. In doing so, his main issue to form the "church" was married bishops and lax rules on divorce.
His "report" comes with an axe to grind on the Coptic Church. The interview was with a well-known pro-Islamist correspondent on Al Jazeera. He took from Max Michel a CD to which the contents never became public for unknown reasons. This puts to question the credibility of his claims. I don't know what ever happened to him, but after a joint meeting between Pope Shenouda and the Chalcedonian Pope Theodorus condemning Max Michel's "papacy", most people never heard of him again (which was momentous in the history of both the non-Chalcedonian and Chalcedonian churches of Alexandria as implying legitimacy to both their patriarchates).
The reality TODAY is there seems to be a growing population of atheism in Egypt due to ISIS. But there are also lots and lots of "underground" Christians, meaning that they live publicly as Muslims and privately as Christians due to danger for their lives and their families' lives. Combine with this Egypt's refusal to do accurate censuses, this skews the "real" number of Christians and their growth or lack thereof in Egypt.
minasoliman i live in egypt.I dont see never any atheist.When i convert to christianity i meet many undergroond christians but i never meet egyptian atheists.
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In Christ,
Justice
His "report" comes with an axe to grind on the Coptic Church. The interview was with a well-known pro-Islamist correspondent on Al Jazeera. He took from Max Michel a CD to which the contents never became public for unknown reasons. This puts to question the credibility of his claims. I don't know what ever happened to him, but after a joint meeting between Pope Shenouda and the Chalcedonian Pope Theodorus condemning Max Michel's "papacy", most people never heard of him again (which was momentous in the history of both the non-Chalcedonian and Chalcedonian churches of Alexandria as implying legitimacy to both their patriarchates).
The reality TODAY is there seems to be a growing population of atheism in Egypt due to ISIS. But there are also lots and lots of "underground" Christians, meaning that they live publicly as Muslims and privately as Christians due to danger for their lives and their families' lives. Combine with this Egypt's refusal to do accurate censuses, this skews the "real" number of Christians and their growth or lack thereof in Egypt.