Sisi and PM seek agreement over amended church building bill
Tue, 23/08/2016 - 16:06 Al-Masry Al-Youm
http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/sisi-and-pm-seek-agreement-over-amended-church-building-bill

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail is making strenuous efforts to hammer
out an agreement over the final version of the law on the building and
reconstruction of churches, taking into account concerns from Church
authorities that unnacceptable amendments have been introduced by
parliament.

"The state is keen on passing the law on the building and reconstruction of
churches as soon as possible," said Ismail in a statement Tuesday, adding
that efforts are continuing around the clock to reach an agreement on the
final draft.

His statement was made in response to claims from the Church that
unreasonable amendments have been added to the bill since Church authorities
last read and approved the draft, undermining efforts to slacken constrains
on church building and reconstruction.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi summoned Ismail on Monday for an urgent
discussion of the bill in light of the Church's claims.

According to informed sources, Ismail spoke several times with Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Magdy al-Agaty over the past 48 hours seeking to resolve
the objections before the bill is discussed by the Cabinet next week and is
subsequently referred to the State Council.

A number of amended articles on the bill have been rejected by the three
Egyptian Church denominations, including changes in the conditions for
approval of constructing and licensing church buildings.

According to informed sources, the Church objected in particular to Article
5 of the bill, which stipulates that churches cannot be built without the
official approval of state institutions.

Spokesman for the Catholic Church, Rafik Graish suggested that the
government has introduced amendments to the bill after having obtained the
approval of church representatives on a former draft.

Graish said that in a recent meeting between the government and
representatives of the Church, the part of Article 5 that stated there must
be coordination with concerned authorities in order for the state to approve
the building of a church had previously been removed from the bill.

That same condition is part of the current law, and has been the subject of
repeated complaints from Coptic Christians, who claim that the phrase
"concerned authorities" puts the verdict on whether or not a church can be
built into the hands of anonymous bodies.

Leaders of the three church denominations held intensive meetings throughout
Tuesday to establish a unified position regarding the bill. According to the
sources, Pope Tawadros called the Coptic Orthodox Church's Holy Synod for an
emergency meeting on Tuesday morning over the bill.

The Evangelical Church will also be holding an urgent General Council
assembly to discuss the matter, denomination president Andrea Zaki said in a
statement.

The long talked-of draft bill, allegedly between 8 to 10 articles long, has
not been made public. Snippets of articles have been leaked at regular
intervals after the Prime Minister meets to discuss the law with church,
leading to speculation and debate on the topic in the media.

Former head of the Press Syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed has been vocal in
ridiculing the way the government is handling the process. In an opinion
article for the news portal of Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya, he called for the
bill to be brought into the open rather than being settled behind closed
doors, leading to the spread of rumors.

"We do not know whether it is true or false that the government made
significant amendments to the bill after having discussed and approved it
with the three church groups," he said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm