«New York Times» published a report on the three Christian denominations in Egypt consultations with the government on the «construction and renovation of churches» law.
The newspaper stated that, The Coptic thinker “Kamal Zakher”, described these consultations as “Camp David” negotiations, pointing out that Egypt’s Christians believe that the amendments made to «building churches» law , did not take in consideration citizenship rights, and Egypt’s Christians feelings.
The newspaper pointed out that discussions are strictly confidential, and quoted «Zakher» saying: «The government is going in a way and Copts are going in another way», hoping to get out a law that satisfies all parties so as not to be challenged in courts.
The newspaper said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with the pope, “Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria,” at the end of last month, noting that the meeting was expected to help in issuing “building churches” law in a satisfactory manner for all parties.
The Coptic writer, “Amin Fahim,” expressed his perplexity by the way in which the government is working, saying: «He does not think that the government is working without the knowledge and guidance of the president, adding that the Copts still trust president Sisi, but they need to see acts and not just intentions.
«Fahim» sees , that the secret behind the government’s reluctance to approve the building churches bill is the fear from Salafis reactions, even though Christians stood with the army on June 30, blaming the state for the majority of sectarian problems between Muslims and Christians in Upper Egypt, stressing that the law will remove all causes of tension.
At another level the American newspaper shed light on accusation made by the writer and political Coptic thinker “Gamal Asaad,” that Egypt has a lot of illegal organizations that negatively affect the course of the discussions that are working to implement Copts demands.
The newspaper believes that it is hard to deny that the approval of this kind of legislation requires first conviction of a Muslim majority in Egypt, otherwise law would not be issued neither by government nor even by president Sisi himself.
