{"id":38604,"date":"2016-08-21T12:30:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T10:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=38604"},"modified":"2016-08-21T12:30:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T10:30:51","slug":"%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%b9%d8%af-%d8%a3%d8%b2%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%b9%d8%af-%d8%a3%d8%b2%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b3\/","title":{"rendered":"“building churches law” amendments crisis escalates.. Ihab Ramzy warns: amendments raise problems and we want a unified cult law .. and deputies: We went back to point zero"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Building churches law” amendments crisis escalated after the church released a statement refusing\u00a0the amendments of tthe\u00a0long-awaited\u00a0church building in Egypt law.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe church was surprised with unacceptable amendments and impractical additions; and it declared\u00a0that these\u00a0amendments will impose a danger on Egyptian national unity,\u201d in the\u00a0statement, released on Thursday, following a meeting between representatives of the Egyptian churches and state officials to discuss the church building legislation.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The statement also slams the amendments\u2019 \u201cfailed to observe the citizenship rights or patriotism of Egyptian Copts.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

In\u00a0a phone-in with privately-owned television channel Al-Nahar<\/span>, Ihab Ramzy, former MP and lawyer of\u00a0the Orthodox Church, said that one of the main concerns \u00a0in regards to the first article of the bill, is that it\u00a0identifies a church as a \u201cbuilding surrounded with walls.\u201d According to Ramzy, which is very difficult to apply\u00a0in reality,\u201d particularly in small villages.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ramzy points out that the definition of a church also does not include the existence of a cross or a bell, which he says raises fears of future complications.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Another primary concern raised by the church is that the bill gives the right to approve or deny the construction of a church to the governor, without specifying any criteria to rely on.<\/span><\/h2>\n

In case the governor denies permission, the case goes to the administrative judiciary, which usually takes between seven to\u00a010 years for\u00a0judgment, Ramzy explains, stating that the bill must instead refer the church case to the urgent judiciary courts.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe mere fact that having a law for church building is a discrimination,\u201d Ramzy concludes, calling for one unified law for worship houses.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Parliamentarians and Egyptian activists further criticized the governmental amendments, denouncing the government\u2019s attitude and questioning its policies.<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a statement to Al-Shorouk<\/span>,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Member of Parliament Margret Azer said, \u201cI do not find an excuse for the government to disrupt the building of churches. Neither the constitution nor Islam itself oppose it.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe government should realize the implications of rejecting the law,\u201d said Azer, a leading member of the \u201cSupport Egypt\u201d coalition, explaining that one primary cause of sectarian incidents falls back on \u201callegations regarding building indoors churches.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

MP Emad Gad also criticized the government\u2019s stance towards the issue.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe government policy has not changed toward the Copts,\u201d Gad said to Al-Shorouk, adding that the government has not proved any will to eradicate the sectarian tensions in the country.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Gad further stated that there was no desire to discuss the law in the parliament in the current period, \u201cdespite the fact that Article 235 states the bill must be discussed in the first parliamentary session.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe House of Representatives must issue, in its first session following the present constitution output, a law to regulate the construction and renovation of churches, in order to ensure that\u00a0Christian freely exercise their religious rites,\u201d states Article 235 of Egypt\u2019s constitution.<\/span><\/h2>\n

On his part, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Agati announced in a press statement on Thursday that the government has yet to finalize the wording of the bill.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe government is striving to produce the law in a balanced way that satisfies all parties,\u201d Agati said, adding, \u201cEveryone, including the government, is keen on the unity between the poles of the nation.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Building churches law” amendments crisis escalated after the church released a statement refusing\u00a0the amendments of tthe\u00a0long-awaited\u00a0church building in Egypt law. \u201cThe church was surprised with unacceptable amendments and impractical additions; and it declared\u00a0that these\u00a0amendments will impose a danger on Egyptian national unity,\u201d in the\u00a0statement, released on Thursday, following a meeting between representatives of the Egyptian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,74],"tags":[6093,5812,5303,6098,6094,6095,6099,4291,6097,6096,704,6101,6102,5305,6100,5810,6103,6105,6104,782],"class_list":["post-38604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-74","tag-amendments","tag-building-churches-law","tag-crisis","tag-deputies","tag-escalates","tag-ihab-ramzy","tag-point-zero","tag-problems","tag-unified-cult-law","tag-warns","tag-704","tag-6101","tag-6102","tag-5305","tag-6100","tag-5810","tag-6103","tag-6105","tag-6104","tag-782"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38607,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38604\/revisions\/38607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}