Cairo: The Egyptian government’s move to approve 125 more Christian places of worship in the Muslim-majority country of Egypt is welcomed and thanked to God. This action is in accordance with the 2016 Act, which was created to give legal permission to Christian churches and related buildings built without government permission.
With this, following 2017, the number of churches and related buildings licensed in Egypt has reached 2526. As of April 2022, 239 places of worship had received legal recognition. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli gave the approval following reviewing the status of the churches that applied for the license.
In 2016, the Egyptian Parliament passed a law related to the granting of licenses to churches. As part of this, a special committee was also established in 2017 under the supervision of the Prime Minister. The committee has 10 members, including a Christian representative, six government officials from various ministries, representatives from national security, intelligence and administration.
In the past, it was the intelligence and security agencies that issued licenses to temples. As this was a very complicated procedure, the construction of the temple was not obtained. Christians have also been attacked by Islamic fundamentalists for building illegal temples.
Therefore, the act of giving legal validity to the temples is evaluated as a sign of positive changes in the country regarding religious freedom. Founding President of ‘Christian Solidarity Worldwide’ Mervyn Thomas said that this step is a sign of President Sisi’s personal commitment to further improve the conditions of Christians.
According to unofficial estimates, the Christian population is less than 15% of the country’s 10 crore population.
