CAIRO: Exchange of criticism between Coptic secularists and leaders of the Coptic Orthodox Church marked the second Conference for Coptic Seculars that ended last week. The conference, boycotted by the Coptic Orthodox Church last year, didn't achieve much progress this time around in bringing the Church closer to secular Coptic thinkers, who accused the Church of pressuring the state to cancel the reservation to host the conference at the Nasr City exhibition grounds. The conference took place at the Enlightenment Association. On the other hand, church leaders said the organizers have weak relations with the church, don't represent Copts and are on the wrong path. The conference called for the modernization of the church and giving secularists a bigger role in running it. Participants also came up with a new draft law to replace the current one governing church trials. They suggested an increased role for Coptic NGOs. Researcher Akram Habib said the church took over the role of these organizations after the 1952 revolution by offering the same services. "We trust Pope Shenouda's justice but we don't know who will succeed him, and thus we can't leave these issues without organization, Judge Halim Habib, Vice President of the State Council, told The Daily Star Egypt in reference to the draft law for church trials. Only the "helpless priests are the ones who will benefit from such a law, noted Kamal Zakher, a leading Coptic secularist and the conference's coordinator. He explained that setting fixed rules wouldn't eliminate the possibility of unfairness in penalizing priests. Talk of modernizing the church opened discussions about sectarian strife. Emad Gad, the secretary general of the Arabs Against Discrimination said that sectarian strife was implanted in Egypt after the 1952 revolution, especially during President Anwar El Sadat's era. The current regime hasn't made any effort to eliminate sectarian tension, Gad said. He added that there were many opportunities for the Church and the regime to start a dialogue addressing Coptic concerns, but that both parties did not pursue such a dialogue as if they were happy with the status quo. "There is something close to a deal between the state and the church through which the latter mobilizes Copts according to the direction the state wants in exchange for the Church holding the Copts as hostages, Amin said. Zakher said Pope Shenouda started with a strong stance facing the state, but now he is ready to compromise. "The Church stole the role of the secularists but didn't replace it, he added. But away from suggesting amendments to the church system, lawyer Nabil Habib raised his share of controversy by discussing ideas that are considered closer to Protestantism. Besides demands to modernize the church and include secularist voices in its management, he said that there is no priesthood in Christianity. He added that there are no holy books in Christianity and that the Bible was communicated to regular human beings who are not above error except in the general meaning of the message.
