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Will Egypt's Copts get to build more churches?

Egypt finalizes the long overdue law governing the construction of churches, while some still hope for a unified law for mosques and churches.
Pope Tawadros II, the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark Cathedral, leads Egypt's Coptic Christmas eve mass in Cairo, Egypt, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTX21BZJ
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The draft law on the construction of churches has renewed the crisis that has existed between the ruling regimes and the Copts in Egypt since the Ottoman era. Over the years, Egypt’s Christians have requested the state to promulgate a law governing the construction of houses of worship, regulating the building of mosques for Muslims and churches for Christians, in light of the challenges in obtaining permission to build new churches, despite the growing Christian population.

A law was issued on Oct. 17, 2001, governing only the construction of mosques, with no mention of the building of churches. In Egypt, a new church may only be built by virtue of a presidential decree, which is issued once a year or once every other year. The difficulties lie in the legislative structure of the state that does not have a mechanism for building churches. Hence, some Christians have turned — in secret — homes into churches.

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