International Christian Concern | Dec. 24, 2018
A report recently released by the Project on Middle East Democracy details how Egypt’s 2016 church legalization law has had a minimal positive impact. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has made several high-profile gestures towards Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. The passage of the 2016 law was promoted as a pathway to streamline the church legalization system.
Just over 500 churches have been officially recognized through this new process, out of the over 3000 who applied following the law’s passage. The slowness of the committee to review applications has come under heavy criticism.