CAIRO – While the cabinet was meeting to discuss the proposed unified bill for places of worship, there were calls to issue a separate bill for the building of churches. They argue that the construction of mosques is already governed by a decree issued in 2001 and there have not been any relevant problems. The construction of churches is an unresolved issue, which has led to several violent incidents between Muslims and Copts. A unified bill will naturally suggest prayer houses for all religions. But followers of faiths that are not officially recognised, like the Baha'i for example, would be likely to make similar claims, if not now then later, which would open the door to more conflicts. So instead of defusing latent tensions, the situation would become unbearable. Therefore, logic has it that what really needs regulation is church building by different Christian creeds. This argument has been supported by Family Home, a newly-formed religious organisation that includes Muslim and Coptic scholars and is headed by Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria. It has clearly rejected the unified bill on the grounds that what applies to building a mosque does not necessarily apply to a church and vice versa. And yet, the Government is going ahead with its discussion of the bill, ignoring loud calls to separate one from the other for the sake of clarity and objectivity.
