This week's Leader. . . .

. . . .in The Spectator relates an event I had not seen elsewhere. The first two thirds of the page tell of the "increasingly violent persecution" that Christians face in Moslem countries. And then there was this:

The 7th of January is Christmas Day for the Coptic church and, given the violence of the preceding month, many were braced for another tragedy. What happened next is an extraordinary event which went unreported in the British press. As Egypt's Christians made their way to mass, they found they had protection: hundreds of Egyptian Muslims who, in protest at the jihadis' agenda, had come to offer themselves as human shields by gathering outside the church. The front pew of a church in the Cairo district of Omraneya was filled with Muslims taking a stand against terror.

The pictures from that night are extraordinary. Muslim men and women risked their lives so that their Christian neighbours could worship. They held placards, chanting 'one people, one blood' as church bells rang. Among them was Amr Khaled - the moderate Muslim televangelist interviewed in The Spectator last month. A new symbol was born in that time: a cross inside a Muslim crescent, which is displayed by thousands of young Egyptians - both Muslim and Christian - on their Facebook page.

I am Catholic enough not to get my hopes up. Peace comes with Christ. But I'm sentimental enough to be pleased with this. And thankful.