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Proposed Egyptian law to reduce restrictions on building churches

The houses of worship law is likely to pass in the Egyptian parliament, but the problem lies in whether the government can enforce it amid the apprehensions of radical Salafists.
The Coptic Orthodox Virgin Mary church is seen during sunset ahead of Coptic Orthodox Easter in Cairo April 18, 2009.   REUTERS/Tarek Mostafa (EGYPT RELIGION) - RTXE4C5
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The unified houses of worship law, which regulates the construction of mosques and churches in Egypt, is still waiting for the parliament’s approval.

Although the voting sessions in parliament haven’t begun yet, the controversy about the houses of worship law started when Christian lawyer Nabil Luka Bibawi filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court of the Egyptian State Council to compel the prime minister and the justice minister to form a committee comprising scholars from Al-Azhar and the Egyptian church to write the law’s outline.

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