CAIRO: Churches in Egypt issued a statement thanking Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the cabinet for issuing a unified law regarding building places of worship after the law had been put on hold for several years. The statement was made during a meeting attended by various Christian sects. It was chaired by Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Christian Church, and representatives of the Christian Catholics and Anglicans. They said there should be discussions and studies on the law in order to achieve justice for all citizens. The church, however, has certain conditions about specific parts of the law. The church's proposals and studies concerning the law will be submitted by the legal committee of the Christian sects to the military council, said Moussa, the Coptic bishop of the youth. The conditions set by the church did not differ from what Moussa said during an exclusive interview with Youm7. They include decisions made by the local authority, the second article on places of worship, the location of building provisions in the regulation, and cancelling the imprisonment penalty in Article 5 of the law.
