Fish Wars in Egypt

Many Americans may be aware of the "fish wars" the occur on the backs of American cars: Jesus fish emblems, Darwin fish emblems, Darwin fish with tools, fish eating fish, and so forth. It's not quite a war of words, and it certainly hasn't gotten violent (except perhaps for the atheists whose Darwin fish are ripped off their cars). In Egypt, however, similar fish wars may not stay so peaceful.

ABC News reports that Coptic Christians have started putting Christian fish bumper stickers on the backs of their cars; Muslims respond not with Darwin but with sharks - sharks eating Christian fish:

"All I wanted to say is that I am a Christian, kind of expressing my Coptic identity," said 25-year-old Miriam Greiss, who has a fish sticker on her car. "I think choosing a shark doesn't make sense, as if someone is saying, `I am a violent, bloody creature, look at me.'"

Emad, a Muslim, laughed when asked about the competing symbols but was unapologetic about the two shark stickers on his car. "The Christians had the fish so we responded with the shark. If they want to portray themselves as weak fishes, OK. We are the strongest," said Emad, who would give only his first name.

It sounds like Greiss' impression about the shark stickers is fairly accurate: they are an attempt to say "we are stronger than you and we're going to destroy you weaklings if we get a chance," a very dangerous message in Egypt where the Coptic minority is frequently persecuted and too rarely protected by the government.

Read More:

• Recent Books on Islam
• Islam
• Coptic Christianity
• Coptic Church in Egypt
• Religion in Egypt