There are no closed churches in Egypt, according to the country's evangelical community. It said all rumors that there are closed evangelical churches in different governorates of Egypt are just lies. Safwat el-Bayady, president of the evangelical community, said the evangelical church has no closed churches anywhere in Egypt. Bayady said the evangelical community applied for permission to build new churches in Cairo's Helwan and Maadi districts, but that the permission was postponed. “We home to have a civil state with real democracy that protects Egypt from the religious trends,” Bayady added.