Darn, Jim. My guide in Luxor and Aswan gave me the understanding that each new pharaoh defaced the images of his predecessors, usually by destroying the nose of the image. If there were pairs of images, only one had to be defaced. I haven't seen any evidence that the Coptic Christians had a practice of defacing statues, but I'm open to proof if you can provide it.

I have seen images of Isis, Osiris, and Horus that very much resemble Coptic images of the Holy Family, and I have seen Coptic Christian altars carved into the walls of ancient Egyptian temples. Historic preservation wasn't really a priority until recent times, which is too bad. So, they opted for "adaptive re-use."

I'll ignore the rest of your remarks. I got my Theology degree from the Catholic Church in 1970, and Catholic Theology and teaching haven't changed radically since then. The teachings you speak of are not within my experience, although I'll readily admit that there have been some strange ideas in religion through the years. But what you're expressing is a caricature of religion. I don't believe it.

-Joe-