On Feb 6, 2011, at 10:21 PM, Jerry Blevins wrote:
Cairo's unique cityscape with its ancient mosques. Cairo is known as
the
"city of a thousand minarets"Egypt is a predominantly Muslim country
with
Islam as its state religion. The percentage of the adherents of
various
religions is a controversial topic in Egypt, with different sources
citing
different figures. Around 90% are identified as
Muslim.[92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100] A significant number of
Muslim
Egyptians also follow native Sufi orders,[101] and there is a
minority of
Shi'a. Islam plays a central role in the lives of most Egyptian
Muslims. The
Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) is heard five times a day, and has the
informal effect of regulating the pace of everything from business
to media
and entertainment.Cairo is famous for its numerous mosque minarets
and is
justifiably dubbed "the city of 1,000 minarets".[102] Cairo also
comprises a
significant number of church towers.
That is true, but there is a big difference between culturally and
religiously Muslim. Egypt requires one to declare as a member of one
of the three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) in
order to get identity papers and those who do not choose Islam are
discriminated against. Therefore, most people select to identify as
Islam. In Israel, all citizens are "Jews" and would suffer politically
if they did not identify themselves as such but the majority of them
are not religious adherents to Judaism. It is more or less the same in
much of Egypt (or so I am told). It seems to be partly in response to
the inflexibility of current government (in addition to rampant
corruption, nepotism, and fiscal mismanagement) that people are
protesting. The overwhelming likelihood is that the Constitution will
become more religiously free, not less.
The Egyptians have no reason to move into the arms of the Muslim
Brotherhood if we do not drive them that way ourselves.
Sincerely,
Eric Vought
"Faith does not absolve us from trying to understand our world and
make moral distinctions with the eyes and brain given us. Religion is
as much responsibility as direction: Duty not Distinction."
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