Copts seeking the right to divorce and remarry are gathering in front of the Ministry of Justice today in order to present their collective resignation from the Coptic Orthodox Church, reports Rasha Sadek The hierarchy of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church is being dealt a heavy blow today, as hundreds of disgruntled Copts gather in front of the Ministry of Justice in Cairo in order to resign from the Church in protest at what they see as "the intransigence of the Coptic Cathedral's Clerical Council and the state's indifference" to their demands to have the right to divorce and remarry within the Coptic Church. The Coptic protesters intend to present their collective resignation from the Coptic Orthodox community over the issue, while maintaining their Christian identity, in what is being seen as a first in the history of the Orthodox Church in Egypt. "After wasting years stuck in failed marriages and unable to obtain a divorce because of Church law that only allows divorce on the grounds of proven adultery, we have decided to 'resign' from the Church, especially after a 2005 agreement between the Coptic, Catholic and Protestant Churches banned changing denomination," said Ayman George, the organiser of the Right to Live group that came up with the idea of resignation. The move will allow participating Copts to file for divorce according to Islamic Sharia laws. "In Egyptian personal status laws for non- Muslims, if the members of a married couple belong to different religious denominations, then Islamic Sharia laws are applied in cases of divorce. Copts who leave their Church and file for divorce should be able to do so in Sharia law, which permits divorce," Mohamed Ezzat El-Shazli, president of the Cairo Family Appeals Court, told Al-Ahram Weekly. A copy of the intended resignation certificate to be used by the protesting Copts was obtained by the Weekly and presented to El-Shazli for his comments. "If made in the presence of two witnesses, the court would consider the resignation to be valid," El-Shazli said, opening up the possibility of successful divorce according to Sharia laws. "Resigning from the Orthodox community is an act of last resort in order to get a divorce after exhausting all other possibilities," George said. The difficulties of Copts trying to obtain the right to divorce from a court or permission to marry for a second time from the Church were compounded in 2008 when Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, amended the 1938 regulations to limit grounds for divorce to cases of adultery. Previously, Copts had been able to file for divorce for any of nine reasons stated in the 1938 regulations, including irreconcilable differences, insanity, or the sentencing of one party in a marriage to a period in jail. "After the 2008 amendment, divorce has become almost unattainable. How can I say in court that my wife is an adulteress and thereby stigmatise my children for the rest of their lives? What kind of negative psychological repercussions could that have on one's offspring," asked Gaber El-Nekheili, a Copt from Assiut who intends to take part in today's vigil. El-Shazli also thinks that the 2008 changes to Coptic divorce law are unjust. "The 1938 regulations were more humane and provided reasonable grounds for divorce. It is unjust to limit grounds for divorce to adultery only," he said. However, neither El-Shazli nor any other legal figure can reinstate the 1938 regulations, since "it was established long ago that personal status laws for non-Muslims are determined by their representative institutions and are applied in the courts according to what they see as appropriate in their religious doctrines." As a result, when the Coptic Church decided to limit grounds for divorce to adultery in 2008, the amendment did not have to go through the Egyptian parliament. Instead, it was simply published in the Church newspaper Al-Waqaai, being then applied in the family courts. "To tell you the truth, I think the Coptic Church should consider going back to the tolerance represented in the 1938 regulations," El-Shazli commented. "I have been working in the field of personal status affairs for over 20 years, and I have seen countless Copts standing before me in court on the verge of tears because they can't get the divorce that will give them a second chance in life. This does not seem fair, but a judge is obliged to follow the law." El-Shazli recalls the case of a 22-year-old teacher whose case was before the courts for eight years. "She later appeared before me at the age of 30, a woman who had spent the prime of her life trying to get out of an unsuccessful marriage." Nevertheless, Coptic Orthodox priests interviewed by the Weekly insist that the Church will not go back on the 2008 amendment, because -- according to the interpretation of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church -- "the Bible says that divorce can only be granted for adultery. We cannot ignore what the Bible says in order to benefit people who think they have right on their side," said one Coptic priest, Father Flopatir. The judge added firmly, "Orthodox Copts are suffering. Period." Azza Suleiman, head of the Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance Centre, has been working to "help Copts attain their constitutional right to form a family" for years, and she sympathises with Copts protesting against the Church's restrictive divorce laws. Taking up a suggestion from Samir Tanagho, professor of civil law at Alexandria University, Suleiman thinks that "the Ministry of Justice should issue an administrative decision to allow notaries in registry offices to handle civil marriage and divorce cases," thus avoiding the need for religious sanction. According to George, this solution would "lift the burden from the Church of having to decide the fate of Copts caught in an impasse of this sort." Pope Shenouda has said on various occasions that Copts wanting to marry or divorce without Church sanction are free to do so, showing that he is not in principle opposed to civil marriage and divorce. Such statements earlier led the Right to Live group to stage a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice on 7 July with demands that included "the application of the 1938 regulations by the courts, allowing a couple to divorce if both parties agree, and remarriage without a permit from the Church," George said. The state turned a deaf ear to Suleiman's suggestion and the group's requests, but "we resorted to the state because we believe that as Egyptian citizens the state owes it to us to solve our problems in this regard. The Church has the right to abide by its rules, but divorce and marriage are purely civil issues, and they ought to be handled by the state," he added. Suleiman said she hoped "the state would comply with the fair and humane demands of the Copts, allowing them to avoid having to leave their religious denomination if they want to obtain a divorce." Herself a human rights activist and lawyer, Suleiman said she intended to continue to help Copts gain divorces through the courts. Article 46 of the Egyptian constitution guarantees freedom of belief, and Copts leaving their denomination will not be obliged to join another Christian community, whether Catholic, Protestant or Roman Orthodox. "We will maintain our understanding of Christian doctrine because we are not against Christian beliefs. We are only resigning from the Coptic Church in protest at its intransigent application of the law on divorce," said Ashraf Anis, who also intends to take part in today's vigil. However, lawyer for the Coptic Church Naguib Gobrail said the collective resignation was a "cheap way of trying to twist the arm of the Church into changing its religious doctrines." Gobrail added that resigning from the Orthodox community would not necessarily be a ticket to divorce, because "nothing in the Christian personal status laws mentions not belonging to a particular denomination," and "the courts cannot adjudicate Christians' membership of particular communities." There was also the precedent of a 2010 case in which the Higher Administrative Court had instructed the Coptic Church to issue a second marriage permit to Magdi William, former husband of a famous actress, he said. In this case, the Church had simply ignored the court order, which Gobrail described as an attempt by the courts "to interfere in Church affairs". El-Shazli disagrees, saying that in the case "the Church should have complied. William later won damages of LE150,000 against the Church, and he could now get a further court order freezing the assets of the Church since it has still not complied with the court's original order." Kamal Zakher, head of the Secular Copts group and a long-time supporter of the right to divorce and remarry, puts some of the blame on the Church for the present impasse. There is a "missing link in communication between the Church and its congregation," Zakher said, pointing the finger at the Cathedral's Clerical Council, formerly in charge of Coptic personal status affairs, but now dissolved due to protests by Copts seeking second marriage permits, for ignoring the issue for years. "It is as if time had no value. Some remarriage cases have been kept waiting by the Clerical Council for eight or 10 years. It should be overhauled," El-Shazli said. Demands to reform the Council, notably by adding experts in sociology, psychology and law to its existing body, drove another group of Copts to stage four demonstrations in front of the Abbasiya Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo over the past two months. "During the first protest, Cathedral security set a dog on us. At other demonstrations, they closed the gates so we couldn't go in. During the fourth protest, we were attacked," said Nader El-Sirafi, who had taken part in the protests. These protesters have now decided to join others who are resigning from the Orthodox community in Cairo. For 70 years, and until 2008, the 1938 regulations granted Orthodox Copts enough reasons to divorce because they spared couples -- who have irreconcilable differences for three years -- the obligation to continue their lives together. But now, with the Church's insistence that the Bible teachings limited divorce to adultery and whoever divorces or remarries for another reason is adulterous, El-Shazli wonders, "are those who obtained divorce or remarried before the 2008 amendment adulterous too?"
