Unemployed And Christian In Egypt: ‘When I Apply To Any Job And They Know That I’m Christian, They Refuse Me’

Revelation 13:17, “… no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

WorldWatch Monitor – “It’s harder than ever to find a job in Egypt, where the unemployment rate has risen to a record 13 percent. For young Egyptians, the jobless rate is much higher.

For out-of-work Christians, finding a job can be especially tough. They are 10 to 12 percent of a country where Islam is the state religion. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party holds the highest offices in the government. When quarreling citizens arrive at legal loggerheads, the new constitution turns to Islamic law to resolve the impasse. In the streets, kidnappings for ransom are increasing and churches are often attacked and burned…

At ground level, Egyptian Christians use a more personal language to describe their place in the economy. World Watch Monitor spoke with three Cairo Christians who are looking for work, and their comments are below. Each of them asked not to be photographed or identified in full. Publicly criticizing a system they view as favoring Muslims, they said, would only make the long odds against finding a job even longer.

• Name: Not provided
• Age: 37
• Qualifications: Bachelor of Agriculture, Cairo University, 1998. Finished military service in 2000.
• Personal: Married, one child

It was difficult to find work even before the 2011 popular uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarek out of office, he said…

‘I read the daily jobs advertising in the Egyptian newspapers to look for a job in my field. I applied for many governmental jobs but really I couldn’t get any one.

‘For example, one day I read a job advertising ‘Job contest’ in a newspaper related to my field. The Ministry of Agriculture was seeking agricultural engineers, and all the required qualifications like the age, degree, were very suitable for me to get this job. Really I was very qualified to get this job.

‘So I immediately went to the Ministry of Agriculture and filled in its job application and presented a copy of all my papers — qualification, birth, military service, identity card.

‘And they asked all the applicants to come after one month to see the result of the job contest. After one month I went to the Ministry and I looked at the paper of names, which was hung on the wall of the ministry building, but I didn’t find my name among them. All the names were Muslims names. There wasn’t any Christian name among them.‘” Read more.

• Flashback: Media To Muslims: Do Not Buy From Or Sell To Christians
• Flashback: Destruction: Muslim Mobs Attacking Christian-Owned Businesses And Pharmacies In Northern Egypt
• Flashback: Egypt: If You Don’t Repeat the Islamic Statement of Faith, You May Not Be Able to Buy From Muslim Stores
• Flashback: Islamists Destroy Christian Businesses In Iraq: ‘If Anyone Decides to Reopen His Store, We Will Kill Him’
• Flashback: Iran: Islamic Republic Refusing Business License For Convert To Christianity, Orders Businesses Not To Employ Christians