He expects the Muslim Brotherhood to attempt to exert its influence on society as they often have, but he said that their influence has been widely overestimated.
“Usually they ‘Islamize’ more external aspects, like the veil and what you can see,” said Fr. Samir. “It could happen, we are used to it.”
They will work to convince people that men and women should not work together, should dress in a certain style and that some jobs are not appropriate for women. “But, they cannot put a law (in place) for that,” he said.
Egyptian society, he said, “has made an evolution to distinguish between morality and law.”
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And, he mentioned, the moderation of the group in recent years in Egypt shows signs “that the Muslim Brotherhood is also going this way.”
The Brotherhood represents a similar threat to Egypt as “aggressive atheists” do to the West, he said.
The key, he added, is not to fear Muslims. Christians have to work together to convince them that “the true religion is something in your heart and not in your appearance - in your clothes and in your dress,” he said. “You can be a very good Muslim and not have the appearance of a Muslim, and you can be a very good Muslim having a Western culture.”
“All of us Christians, but also open-minded Muslims, have to spread this approach to religion,” he said.
Nevertheless, the “threat of Islamization ... exists always” in the Egypt where there is such a large-percentage Muslim population, said Fr. Samir.
The major concern for Christians at this point is ensuring equality, especially in three major areas, according to the Jesuit priest. The first is equality in the job market, “that there will not be a preference for a Muslim over a Christian.”
In addition, Christians should be allowed to obtain building permits for churches as easily as their fellow citizens do for mosques. A law from the late 1800s has made it very difficult for Christians to build until now.
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The third point was that of the liberty of conscience. Egyptians should be free to convert from Christianity to Islam and vice versa with no threat of harm against the person who converted, he said.
Those may be mostly “symbolic” points in nature - as there are not many people who seek to convert -but “at least it means we recognize the rights of conscience which is over the tradition or over the religion.
“The main point is this: that we are all under the same rule,” he said.
Egyptians had made the “small step” of being able to speak more freely about equality in recent years, he said, “and if, on the occasion of this small revolution, we obtain something more, it’s good.”
Christians, he said, must be “careful” to act in the process of cultural development and politics, to make themselves present in society rather than holing themselves up in “ghettos.”
“Christians must be very much involved in the society, in the political and social and economic world of the nation,” said Fr. Samir.