Egyptian Court Allows Return to Christianity

[avocadobravado]

CAIRO - Cairo’s highest civil court on Saturday ruled that 12 Christians who had converted to Islam could return to their original church, ending a bitter yearlong battle over identity and minority rights.

It was the second time in recent months that a court has upheld the rights of religious minorities, in a country that is 90 percent Muslim and

Comments

[stupidjick]

Hooray for increased freedom in Egypt!

[chibirenia]

Are you also obsessed with Beirut? I haven't felt this way about a band since Hanson in the sixth grade! Not really, but I do love Beirut. I have a hard time bringing people to the Beirut side. Anyway, I'm always looking for neat music like that so if you have any recommendations please pass them my way,.

[avocadobravado]

At first I was confused because the article was about something that happened in Cairo, not Beirut. hahaha! But YES! I adore Beirut, especially their new album The Flying Club Cup.

I don't really have any music recommendations, I just download whatever my friend stupidjick gives me.

Book recommendations though, that's something I can give!

[chibirenia]

Yes, book recommendations are also my specialty. A Fine Balance is one of my recent favorites; you should check it out some time. Go ahead, throw me a suggestion. I am reading Tolstoy quickly just to see what he's about, and Frankenstein for a class, and Mein Kampf here and there, and I would like to read Gravities Rainbows soon but I'm not yet sure if it's for me. But always I'm open for any suggestions.

[akuratnik]

Can I be a conservative here and say: wtf? I mean I understand the position these people are in, but converting to another faith to divorce is like, what?

Under what statute of Islamic Law is converting to Islam to divorce and then going back to one's faith allowed?

I'm all for minority rights, so let the Baha'i get their passports and open bank accounts. I also think that our clerics need to figure out how to incorporate minorities into the Shari'a better. But the whole divorce thing is ridiculous.

[avocadobravado]

heheh, those were my thoughts when I read the article too, actually.

I remember reading about the Bahai issue about a month ago and I just looked it up again online and found this:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQ9bxTaqTTvqBMu-r5srjd5d1KBA

"A Cairo court on Tuesday ruled to allow Egyptian Bahais to leave their religion blank on official documents, in effect restoring their access to jobs, schools and medical and financial services."

HMMM.

[akuratnik]

There you go. This whole religious discrimination thing is definitely an issue in Egypt, so I would love to see some changes and I guess this blank option is a step in the right direction. Maybe if the minorities had proper rights under the government, they wouldn't have to convert and then apostasy to get a divorce.

But I still don't get how apostasy gets an excuse in this case. That's like immigrating to America, getting a passport to vote for a president or something, and then saying "JUST KIDDING I've done what I wanted, I cancel my citizenship and go back home!"

[avocadobravado]

I agree with you 100%, this is obviously a major issue that the Coptic Church needs to deal with as well.

Btw, the whole divorce in Egypt reminds me of this story:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/01/egypt-weighs-le.html

Have you heard of it?

Also lol - I actually meant to post this article to a community, not my actual journal... oops!! hahaha

[sbgskl]

omg i ♥ your posts in ~umstudents. that is all.

[avocadobravado]

hahaha, thx dude.

[noctilucas]

Hi Rose. It's been a while. Just thought I'd drop you a line to see how you're holding up. Every time I see Middle Eastern culture in the news, I wonder what your views on it are. I hope you're doing well. Take care,

Lucas