Coptic Church unhappy Egyptian Christians are joining Salafist-linked party
The Coptic Church in Egypt is not happy about some of its followers joining the Salafist Nour Party, whose platform it believes is sectarian and anti-Coptic.
CAIRO — Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church Tawadros II (the 118th and current pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark) issued a Aug. 1 decision barring Egyptian Christian Copts from joining the Salafist Nour Party. While the church is not legally allowed to issue official decisions in Egypt, Coptic activists told Al-Monitor that the parishes received oral instructions from the pope's secretariat to keep track of the names of the Copts who join the Nour Party, in preparation for barring them from the church.
Many young Copts were upset. Most of them belong to Coptic 38, a group that objects to the Egyptian Coptic Church’s refusal to grant young people permission to remarry.
