Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif rejected on Saturday a “free-for- all” policy to build mosques and churches, a reference to increasing demands by Coptic Christian to build more churches. Nazif, however, said that the government will make sure that there will be enough worship places for both Muslims and Christians. After meeting Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Egypt's Copts, Nazif told reporters that “there is an organization for building worship places, but it won't be free-for-all.” “We are putting restriction on building mosques and churches, but at the same time we will make sure that there will be enough places of worship,” he added. Egypt's Christians have long complained of heavy government bureaucratic restrictions for building churches. The unified places-of-worship draft law was first proposed by the ruling National Democratic Party in 2005 in an effort to regulate the construction of mosques and churches in Egypt--but was never officially endorsed. Christians have long complained of constraints imposed by the current law--dating back to 1856--which conditions the building of churches on presidential approval. Although President Hosni Mubarak issued a presidential decree authorizing governors to provide permits for building churches in 2005, many Copts claim the decree has failed to change the status quo in light of widespread fears that building new churches could provoke Muslim residents, especially in Upper Egypt. According to the Ministry of Religious Endowments, there are over 93,000 mosques in Egypt, while the number of churches is around 2,000--not enough, apparently, to serve Egypt's Copts, who constitute roughly seven percent of the national population. On Thursday, Nazif told reporters that the government is determined to introduce anti-religious discrimination articles into the Egyptian Law in order to guarantee that all Egypt's citizens are treated on equal bases.
