Cairo— Following every terrorist attack, the Egyptian state and its loyal media tend to focus on religion as the main purveyor of extremism and sectarianism. Some have called for an end to religious education in schools (in which Christians and Muslims are segregated), and for an end to the practice of including religion on identity cards. The call resonates to the extent that there has been a rumor going around about a potential suspension of religious studies classes in schools in an bid to fight escalating extremism. Many Egyptians took to social media to express their outrage. On its part, the Ministry of Religious Endowment and Affairs (Al-Awqaf), denied these rumors being circulated by some news websites, that falsely attributed it to the Minister of Al-Awqaf, Dr. Mohammad Mukhtar Jumaa, reporting that his ministry was planning to end religious education classes in schools starting from next year. In response to the backlash targeting the Endowments' Minister, the ministry said in a statement on Friday that "the news was baseless" and he explained in more than one TV interview the importance of teaching religious education and assigning it to specialists as all religions call for shared values and ethics and stress the inviolability of blood, money and honor. The statement clarified that the minister had only said a new book would be issued to go hand in hand with the religious studies syllabus, noting that this book will mainly cover morals and values. The statement read: "The 'Morals and Values' syllabus were revised by the Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyib and Pope of the Coptic Church Tawadros II. The education ministry is currently reviewing the books." Lastly, the ministry called on all media outlets, audio, visual and printed to investigate and verify before publishing any information by consulting all affected and concerned parties in this regard.
