Egyptian churches consider response for places of worship draft Bill
14/06/2011
Egypt’s Christian Orthodox, evangelical and Catholic denominations plan to hold a meeting to draw up a response to the draft law on places of worship.
Previously, they had expressed their rejection of many features of the bill. The Orthodox Church earlier rejected nine features of the bill, while the other two denominations continue to mull the bill over.
Bishop Moussa, the Orthodox Church’s bishop for youth, said the church welcomes meeting with the other churches to discuss a joint response.
Antonios Azeez, bishop of the Catholic Church in Giza, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the church is currently mulling over disadvantages of the bill. However, he added that the bill had advantages.
Priest Andrea Zaky, vice president of the Evangelical Church, said the bill is being studied with the help of legal experts to state objections over articles that may hinder implementation of the law.
Copts say the draft law proposes strict conditions for building places of worship. Distance between any two places of worship should be 1000 meters at least.
Meanwhile, the Copts Without Restrictions movement will a stage a candlelight vigil late Wednesday before the Cathedral in Abbasseya.
The vigil, which comes ahead of Coptic Pope Shenouda III’s sermon, will commemorate the sectarian violence in Imbaba 40 days ago, which left 12 people dead.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
