Amid a large number of walkouts, the three main Coptic Churches in Egypt—the Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical—last week decided to stay on the 100-member Constituent Assembly picked up by the dissolved People’s
Amid a large number of walkouts, the three main Coptic Churches in Egypt—the Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical—last week decided to stay on the 100-member Constituent Assembly picked up by the dissolved People’s Assembly to write Egypt’s new constitution. The decision came after the supplementary constitutional declaration by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) gave the right to contest before the Constitutional Court any article proposed for the constitution if 20 per cent or more of the members disagree with it
The churches see that this new twist balances the sweeping Islamist-majority current. They had agreed and coordinated with the topmost [moderate] Islamic institution al-Azhar to either stay together in the Constituent Assembly or for all religious entities to withdraw together. Al-Azhar has decided to stay on, and so did the three churches. They all said that, if the constituent assembly remains in place, they cannot abandon the responsibility of representing their constituencies on the assembly.
The Constituent Assembly is awaiting a court ruling by the end of this month regarding its constitutionality.
WATANI International
25 June 2012