Egyptian Religious Ministry Bans Interactions
With Evangelical Church
Myles Collier ("The Christian Post," April 15, 2013)
Sabri Ebada, undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf in Gharbiya, said the
ministry issued a written order to stop dealing with the Evangelical Church
in Egypt for reasons that were not immediately revealed.
The Ministry of Awqaf's decision was signed by Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Razik
Abdel Hadi, the undersecretary for mosques, and Dr. Abdu Ali Meklad, senior
undersecretary of the ministry. The decision prevents all departments
across the country from having dealings with the Evangelical Church of Egypt.
According to Sada el-Balad's website, Ebada said the written decision was
issued by Dr. Meklad, deputy of the Minister of Awqaf and head of religious
affairs.
"This takes place in the context of what is called 'Brotherhooding' and
'Salafizing' of the ministry," added Ebada, who pointed out that the Muslim
Brotherhood challenges their opponents with decisions issued by the head of
the religious affairs department of the Ministry of Awqaf.
"Remarks by the spokesperson of the ministry are made to media outlets
without official review and are intended to mislead public opinion," Ebada said
in a statement.
Ebada noted that Awqaf's department in Gharbiya will organize a protest in
solidarity with the Evangelical Church and demand disclosure of the reasons
for the decision, which he described as "strange."
For his part, Dr. Ikram Lamie, the spokesperson for the Evangelical Church
in Egypt, said he would immediately contact the community leader, Dr.
Safwat el-Bayadi, and his deputy, Dr. Andrea Zaki, to discuss the ministry's
reasons for issuing such a resolution to its departments in Gharbiya.
"The situation is a warning sign of a possible repeat of what happened
under former President Gamal Abdel Nasser when he seized lands belonging to
the
Evangelical Church. Part of these lands were recovered under President
Anwar Sadat, and the remainder were recovered under former President Hosni
Mubarak," Dr. Lamie added.
Dr. Lamie said that anything is a possibility after this decision, and he
did not rule out the possibility that the decision is a precursor to seize
lands that are held by the Evangelical Church.
"No discord has recently occurred between the church and the Ministry of
Awqaf which would justify such a decision," noted Dr. Lamie, who said that
the decision was made while the community leader was in the U.S.
____________________________________
--
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
