.- A
report by the EFE news agency states that despite the Egyptian
government’s recent decision to allow missionaries of “all monotheistic
religions” to be active in the country, conversions to Christianity
continue to take place clandestinely.
The report noted
the case of Mary Tanagho, a 20 year-old Egyptian Christian whose family
has lived in the US for 24 years because of death threats against her
father for distributing Christian pamphlets “intended for Muslim
faithful.”
“The police
stormed the clinic where my father was working in Cairo and they took
him to jail, where he spent six months without being accused of a
single crime,” Mary said. She said the pamphlets led to the
conversion to Christianity of various Muslims.
Mary’s father
was pressured to abandon all religious activity and after receiving
death threats, he ultimately decided to leave the country.
A spokesman for
the Catholic Church in Egypt, Rafiq Gresh, told EFE that if a Muslim
converts to Christianity and manages to keep it hidden, when he dies
“he will be buried in a Muslim cemetery.” He said a person’s national
identity card indicates what religion he or she professes.
According to
statements by Islamic authorities, Islam is tolerant of other
monotheistic faiths but does not allow them to engage in missionary
activity. “A Christian has the same right as a Muslim to express
his religion at any time or place, but there is a difference between
this and inciting a person to follow another religion,” said Abdel Moti
Bayumi of the Academy of Islamic Studies.
The Egyptian
constitution established Islam, which is the faith of 90% of
population, as the official religion. The remaining 10% include
Coptic Orthodox, Coptic Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Chaldean and
Maronite Catholics and members of the Bahá'í faith.
Open conversion to Christianity still not possible in Egypt
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