A public debate has been underway in Egypt over the regime’s treatment of the country’s Christians. This debate emerged following lawsuits by Christians who had converted to Islam and then reconverted to Christianity, and who were now demanding that the Egyptian Interior Ministry issue them new official documents in their original names and with “Christian” in the “religion” entry field.
In April 2007, the Egyptian administrative court rejected an appeal by Christians who had converted to Islam and then reverted to Christianity, and also accused them of apostasy against Islam – the punishment for which is death, according to the common interpretation.
Two months after the court ruling, the plaintiffs’ appeal was accepted. The Supreme Administrative Court instructed the Interior Ministry to permit the plaintiffs to have their identity cards again denote them as Christians, and called for a new law banning “playing” with religions. Further ruling in the case was postponed until September 2007. [1]
The Egyptian religious establishment backed up the court’s rulings, and at the same time argued that repeated conversion creates confusion that endangers societal stability. The Egyptian press published articles with a similar view, claiming that religion should not be changed with the aim of obtaining material aims. In protest, representatives of the Christian community and human rights organizations in Egypt called this discrimination and violation of freedom of religion.
The following is a review of responses in the Egyptian press to the court ruling: CONTINUE
