The Supreme Constitutional Court overturned an earlier ruling allowing the remarriage of divorced Christians even though the unified personal status law remains unresolved, Reem Leila reports On 7 July the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) overturned an earlier verdict issued by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) obliging the Coptic Orthodox Church to provide Christian divorcees with marriage permits. The ruling, issued in May, angered many Christians, beginning with Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, who has appealed to the SCC. Hundreds of Christians demonstrated in Cairo, with angry protesters claiming that the ruling went against Biblical teachings. They also accused the government of interfering in religious affairs. Court officials believe the issue between state and church should be settled by a unified personal status law for all Christian denominations. According to the Coptic Orthodox creed, divorce is forbidden except in cases of adultery, and when converting to another religion or other denomination of Christianity. Bishop Morcous of Shubra Al-Kheima Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church's media spokesman stated that church officials and Christians consider the SCC ruling "a great victory". "This ruling proves that Egypt has a fair judicial system which does not interfere in religious matters," Morcous said. Church leaders who trust and respect the judiciary system and believe it is just "were not about to abide by any ruling which is against Christians' religious freedom which is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution," argued Morcous, who added that marriage is a religious matter and is one of the Orthodox Church's seven sacraments. "Nothing on earth will force us to abide by anything that contradicts Biblical teachings." Following the controversy over the SAC ruling, Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei formed a committee to draft the Christians unified personal status law. Pope Shenouda III, along with officials from the Ministry of Justice, said the committee included representatives of all four of Egypt's churches with their various denominations. "The unified Personal Status Law which was submitted to the Ministry of Justice meets the approval of all of Egypt's different denominations," Pope Shenouda had previously said. The Roman Orthodox Church, one of four legally recognised denominations of Christianity in Egypt, rejected the new status law. Bishop Nicolas Antonio, official spokesman for the Roman Orthodox Church, said on behalf of Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodors II, the Justice Ministry is currently drafting the law in collaboration with the Coptic Orthodox, Evangelical and Catholic churches. The Roman Orthodox Church did not approve the law as was claimed. "Representatives of the church were neither invited to the preparatory sessions of the law nor to the committee formed by the ministry," Nicolas said. It has been reported that Pope Shenouda III was angered by the Roman Orthodox Church following disagreement between both churches at the Middle East Council of Churches. The dispute resulted in the pullout of the Coptic Orthodox Church from the council and its request for a formal apology before returning to the council. Antonio refused to comment on the reports and told Al-Ahram Weekly that an official letter has been sent to Marei, People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, head of the Shura Council Safwat El-Sherif and head of the committee concerned with the law Omar El-Sherif declaring their rejection of the law because they were excluded from the committee and any prior preparations of the law. "Should the People's Assembly approve the Christians' unified personal status law without taking our opinion, the law will not be binding on the Roman Orthodox Church. So far we did not receive any reply from any of these officials," Antonio said. According to the Roman Orthodox Church, there are eight reasons a Roman Orthodox Christian can be granted divorce. Antonio said the Roman Orthodox Church signed the 1998 draft prepared by Pope Shenouda III and not the amended version. "The pope submitted an amended version to the Ministry of Justice and the Roman Orthodox Church was not informed of the changes," stated Antonio. The Roman Orthodox Church has its own personal status law and will submit it to the Ministry of Justice. "There are 16,000 followers of our church in Egypt. None of them, not even the Roman Orthodox Church itself should abide by the draft law prepared by Pope Shenouda III. How can we follow a law which does not represent our teachings?" asked Antonio. Roman Orthodox Church law is enforced upon 22 bishoprics in Africa, 26 archbishoprics all over the world and millions of followers. "We cannot apply the law prepared by the Coptic pope on all those just because Pope Shenouda III of Egypt wants this," argued Antonio. Disputes between Pope Shenouda III and other popes representing different denominations are escalating. Morcous stated that the Coptic Orthodox Church has criticised the group's draft law presented to the Justice Ministry, accusing the group of violating the Bible's teachings. This group "does not represent Christians", stated Morcous. Antonio replied that the Roman Orthodox Church follows the law dating back to 1937 which previously regulated matters of marriage and divorce for each denomination separately. "Egypt's courts have been ruling via our own laws since then. This is the only law which is binding to us."
