Violence against Christians in Egypt reached such a pitch recently that the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago spoke out against it. In a statement CIOGC said it, “condemns the destruction of churches, violence against Christians and the alleged incidents of torture and rape by some elements, who may be taking advantage of the general lawlessness in the country. Our prayers go out for the families of those killed, wounded and detained and for our beloved Egypt.” The statement also condemned the violence in Egypt in general and called upon the Obama administration to intervene. “People of faith should speak out against targeting of minorities, whether they are Christian minorities in non-Christian countries, Jewish minorities in non-Jewish countries, Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries,” Mohammed Kaiseruddin, chairman and co-founder of CIOGC, told the Catholic New World. “There are many things that lead to the targeting of these minorities and that’s completely unacceptable,” he said. “Islam for sure says the religious minorities should be allowed to live in peace and their places of worship should not be desecrated.” The CIOGC is a federation of 58 organizations and has a history of working with other groups of faith in the Chicago area. Having these relationships is important, Kaiseruddin said. “It’s very important to get to know each other from both angles. From the angle of knowing what the other faith teachings are so you can understand the actions when a certain community acts one way or the other … and then through this participation we let our belief system also be known so that we don’t remain as an unknown quantity.”