Scholar Agrees With MPACUK On The Need For Political Engagement

Abdulhafid writes:
I suggest you visit Cairo or Alexandria in Egypt, home of some of the biggest and architecturally magnificent churches in Middle East. Churches in Egypt are not some low-key affairs but are instead massive compounds with high-rising crosses visible from afar.

Funny enough I lived in Cyprus during the 90s. So managed to visit Egypt,Israel, Jordan etc.. I have seen at first hand how Christians are treated in Islamic lands. But hey don't take my word for here is what the UNCHR;
Arab Muslims governed Christians and Jews by the rules of the Islamic sharia. By Islamic law, as dhimmi people, they had to wear different colours and clothes from Muslims, could not build new places of worship or repair old ones without permission, or construct them in such a way as to overshadow those of Muslims....

Copts continue to face state discrimination in such areas as university admissions, public spending, military promotions, and required authorisations for the building or repair of churches. Up until 2005, presidential approval was required for repairing churches. Although now the decision rests with the regional authorities, in practise many Copts still complain of obstruction and difficulties.
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The contemporary interpretation of the 1856 Ottoman Hamayouni decree, still partially in force, requires non-Muslims to obtain a presidential decree to build new churches and synagogues. In addition, MOI regulations, issued in 1934 under the Al-Ezabi decree, specify a set of 10 conditions that the Government must consider before a presidential decree for construction of a new non-Muslim place of worship can be issued. The conditions include the requirement that the distance that a church may be no closer than 100 meters (340 feet) from a mosque and that approval of the neighboring Muslim community must be obtained before a permit to build a new church may be issued.

In 2005 the President issued Decree 291/2005, which delegated authority to the country's 26 governors to grant permits to Christian denominations that seek to expand or rebuild existing churches. The decree also stated that churches could undertake basic repairs and maintenance subject only to the provision of written notification to local authorities. Decree 291 noted that governors must examine all applications for rebuilding or expansion, which must be supported by unspecified documents, within 30 days of submission. According to the decree, "permits may not be refused except with a justified ruling." Decree 291 also cancelled a 1999 decree aimed at improving the permit process for church repair. (Presidential Decree 453 of 1999 had made the repair of all places of worship subject to a 1976 civil construction code. Although this decree made mosque and church repairs technically subject to the same laws, authorities enforced the laws more strictly for churches.)

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