CAIRO: Despite the Egyptian Coptic minority’s persistent calls, a unified law for building places of worship is yet to be finalized by Egypt’s parliament. Experts, however, are still optimistic that it will see the light.
Calls by the Coptic community are endorsed by several human rights organizations, in the hopes that the law will be included on the parliamentary agenda this coming round.
The law was first proposed in 2005 as a result of the collective efforts of legal experts and MPs. If passed, it would regulate the construction of mosques and churches in Egypt.
Mustafa Al-Fiqi, head of the People’s Assembly’s foreign relations committee, said the draft law is not yet listed among the 14 topics slated for discussion in the next parliamentary session.
“I am very excited about this law, although I’m not sure it will be discussed in the coming sessions but I believe that it will eliminate sectarian issues forever, it is our way out, Al-Fiqi, a strong advocate of the law, told Daily News Egypt.
The current law dates back to 1856, stipulating that non-Muslims obtain a presidential decree to build new churches and synagogues. The law was later modified in 1934 by the Ministry of Interior which added 10 conditions, including the approval of neighboring Muslim residents.
Prominent Coptic thinker and writer Hany Labib said that the current amendments to the law – giving governors the authority to approve construction – will not solve the problem.
“The issue is not with unifying laws or passing regulations; now more than ever our society has become very sensitive to religious matters, the idea of citizenship is now just verbiage, Labib told Daily News Egypt.
A recent report released by the Ministry of Religious Endowments said that there are over 74,500 free-standing mosques in Egypt, as well as 18,000 located in buildings – most of which are in Cairo.
The number of churches in Egypt on the other hand does not exceed 2,000, allegedly not enough to serve Egypt s Coptic community of at least 5 million.
Mufid Shehab, minister of legal affairs and parliamentary councils, said earlier this month that the government has built over 500 churches in the past century, describing it as a sufficient number.
“There is no discrimination between Muslims and Christians. Copts should trust their country, we always welcome the construction and renovation of churches in Egypt, Shehab said.
The four-year delay of this law has infuriated the Coptic community in Egypt and raised speculation that the Muslim Brotherhood’s presence in parliament since 2005 could be the main reason behind the lag.
Labib suggested that it is possible that the Brotherhood wants to keep operating under the obsolete old law.
“Muslim Brotherhood members, according to activity monitoring reports, didn’t participate in any major discussion throughout the parliament’s sessions; the topics they choose to discuss are not vital to society, they could be the mastermind behind impeding the process, he said.
Meanwhile, several members of the Muslim community support the law.
Abdel Moaty Bayoumi, member of the Islamic Research Center, rejects the idea of having any conditions for building places of worship, stressing that Islamic Sharia encourages building mosques and that the same applies for churches that should be built wherever necessary.
Christians make up between 6-10 percent of Egypt’s population.
Pastor Metyas Sabry from the Virgin Mary Church in Zagazig urged the government to finalize this law in order to put an end to sectarian strife.
“This law will activate the constitutional concept of citizenship, equating the mosque and the church, with the expansion of new cities the need for more churches seems to manifest itself more, he said.
Many political analysts and human rights organizations argue that the tension between the Muslim and Coptic communities is caused primarily by the issue of building churches.
In November 2005, a presidential decree allowed the building of a new church in Rehab City in Cairo’s outskirts. However, other churches still go through the grueling bureaucratic procedures such as the Evangelical Church in Maadi, which has been unable to obtain a license for over 50 years.
Naguib Gobrael, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, told Daily News Egypt that he will hold a meeting with Safwat El-Sherif, secretary general of the National Democratic Party and Gamal Mubarak, the secretary of the party’s policies committee.
“On Oct. 25 I will be heading a delegation to meet Gamal Mubarak, Safwat El-Sherif as well as other prominent NDP members to discuss a set of new laws that will be called ‘citizenship declaration’, he said.
He explained that the declaration includes draft laws that will help Copts in Egypt have a more active role in the country’s political life as well as the draft law pertaining to building places of worship.
“We have been calling for that law for over 15 years, Pope Shenouda III proposed the law to parliament speaker Sofy Abou Talib at the time, but it is still kept on the shelf, Gobrael said.
