“We heard about what happened in Egypt, last august, when over a hundred of Christian buildings (many churches amongst it) [were] destroyed by radical Muslims,” Marco van der Straten, EO-spokesman and executive producer of “Justice Song,” shared in an email with The Christian Post on Wednesday.
“As a part of our human rights project, we decided to make a music video in Egypt, with a Christian Dutch artist (William Wixley) and an Egyptian artist (Rando Harvey). It’s a song that expresses our feelings, we want to stand side-by-side with the persecuted Christians around the world. And it’s a song about hope.”
This past summer scores of churches and Christians were targeted by Islamic radicals backed by the Muslim Brotherhood following the regime change in Egypt, when former President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown on July 3. Muslim mobs blamed Christians for supporting the protests that led to Morsi’s downfall, and attacked several Christian churches, homes and small businesses in several cities, burning down buildings and, in some cases, murdering those who tried to stand in their way.
According to Van der Straten, Egyptian Christians told EO that they stand by Jesus’ message to show love to other people, even when they are persecuted or hated.
The music video for “Justice Song,” which was uploaded last week, features the singers Wixley and Harvey, singing at the backdrop of a burned church.
“We hope that it will encourage people in Egypt and other countries where Christians are persecuted, that we will not forget them, but stand side-by-side and pray for them. And the clip tells the story of the persecuted Christians to the world: ‘this is what happens, are you aware of this and what can we do to stop this and support the victims of the violation of human rights,” the EO spokesman commented.
Several Christian organizations, including persecution watchdog group Open Doors, have started initiatives seeking to help the people in Egypt. In August, the organization called for $430,000 in emergency aid for suffering Egyptian Christians, noting that attacks against believers were intensifying.
“The attacks intensified two weeks ago when most of the persecution of Christians (occurred). They are being blamed by the Muslim Brotherhood for ousting President Morsi. We saw Christians killed – they have been targeted by Muslim Brotherhood fanatics, and they’ve been caught in the middle, as it usually happens in many cases when Christians are minorities in Middle Eastern countries,” Open Doors USA Media Relations Director Jerry Dykstra said in an interview with CP at the time.
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