Egypt: A prediction

Violence broke out in Egypt -- the "new" Egypt -- when Copts protested the burning of one of their churches. The initial violence was against the Copts, not by them. Based on this, and on a pattern extending over the past 43 years, I predict that a Coptic church in Egypt will soon display a bizarre -- and allegedly supernatural -- light show on its roof.

Some of you may recall this earlier post on a similar light show in Assiut, Egypt. My personal attitude toward such things is indicated by the title: "I think this is fake. But how was it done?" Since the publication of that post, I've done a small study of similar Egyptian cases. (Alas, the data remains trapped on my still-defunct hard drive.)

Bottom line: There have been about a half-dozen similar occurrences since 1968, including this recent one. They don't happen outside Egypt. They always seem to happen after fundamentalist Muslims have attacked or persecuted Copts. The allegedly "supernatural" displays impress both the Muslims and the Christians, and thus usually ease tensions between the religions.

I still believe that these putative miracles are, in all likelihood, hoaxes. The motive is obvious, although I'm not going to pretend to know the methodology. (I've run some Egyptian commentary on this topic through Google Translate. It seems that there are cynics in Egypt who ascribe these events to "hologram projectors" loaned to the Copts by the CIA. No such technology exists.)