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EGYPT'S COPTIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH BOYCOTTS ISLAMIST-DOMINATED PANEL
PanARMENIAN.Net
April 2, 2012 - 21:33 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church has decided to
boycott an Islamist-dominated panel charged with drafting the future
constitution, AFP reported citing the official MENA news agency.
The official MENA news agency reported that the decision was taken
unanimously by the 20 members of the Holy Synod to remove the two
church officials who sit on the committee.
The church "considers it inappropriate to continue to be represented
given the reservations of various political forces on how the
constitutional commission was composed," the report said.
The commission comprises of 100 members selected by the parliament,
but is mainly made up of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi
fundamentalists who also are the majority among lawmakers.
Several parties and secular figures in recent days have withdrawn from
the panel, saying their presence was used only as a collateral for the
Islamists to draft a basic law that reflects their political-religious
ideologies.
Al-Azhar, the key reference institution in Sunni Islam, also announced
its withdrawal, distancing its ideology of moderate Islam from that
of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi fundamentalists.
The Copts or Egyptian Christians constitute six to 10 percent of the
country's population of about 82 million. Their patriarch, Shenouda
III, an ardent defender of his community, died March 17 at age 88
and has not yet been replaced.
The church's decision to boycott the panel comes after the Brotherhood
said Saturday it was nominating a candidate for the presidential
election on May 23, breaking its earlier promise of not contesting.
The decision to nominate the group's deputy leader Khairat al-Shater
- a business tycoon and the group's main financier -- has sent shock
waves through political circles.
PanARMENIAN.Net
April 2, 2012 - 21:33 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church has decided to
boycott an Islamist-dominated panel charged with drafting the future
constitution, AFP reported citing the official MENA news agency.
The official MENA news agency reported that the decision was taken
unanimously by the 20 members of the Holy Synod to remove the two
church officials who sit on the committee.
The church "considers it inappropriate to continue to be represented
given the reservations of various political forces on how the
constitutional commission was composed," the report said.
The commission comprises of 100 members selected by the parliament,
but is mainly made up of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi
fundamentalists who also are the majority among lawmakers.
Several parties and secular figures in recent days have withdrawn from
the panel, saying their presence was used only as a collateral for the
Islamists to draft a basic law that reflects their political-religious
ideologies.
Al-Azhar, the key reference institution in Sunni Islam, also announced
its withdrawal, distancing its ideology of moderate Islam from that
of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi fundamentalists.
The Copts or Egyptian Christians constitute six to 10 percent of the
country's population of about 82 million. Their patriarch, Shenouda
III, an ardent defender of his community, died March 17 at age 88
and has not yet been replaced.
The church's decision to boycott the panel comes after the Brotherhood
said Saturday it was nominating a candidate for the presidential
election on May 23, breaking its earlier promise of not contesting.
The decision to nominate the group's deputy leader Khairat al-Shater
- a business tycoon and the group's main financier -- has sent shock
waves through political circles.