It may soon be a criminal offense to be an atheist in Egypt, UG Christian News has learnt.
Shortly before New Year’s Day, legislatures in Egypt considered enacting a law that would make it illegal to profess no belief in God.
Amro Hamroush, the head of parliament’s religious committee said that atheism is widely spreading among youth in the nation claiming that it falls under the right of freedom of belief.
“The phenomenon is being promoted in society as freedom of belief when this is totally wrong,” Hamroush told local press.
“It must be criminalised and categorised as contempt of religion because atheists have no doctrine and try to insult the Abrahamic religions,” he further stated while announcing the proposed law.
Christian Headlines reported recently that it is against Egyptian law to “insult” or “defame” religion, and blasphemy arrests are on the rise. A conviction can bring up to five years in prison.
The legislation, according to sources, has the support of Egypt’s highest Islamic religious organization, the Al-Azhar. Mohamed Zaki, an Al-Azhar official, while speaking to Journalists in the nation, called it necessary “to punish those who have been seduced into atheism.”
The proposed law comes amid a growing moral panic in the North African country threatened by homosexuality and sexually-suggestive media.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the total number of Christians in Egypt is between 5% and 20% of a total population of 80 million Egyptians. The nation has in the last few years been regarded as one of the worst places for Christian persecution.
A series of attacks targeting Christians and forced closure of churches have caused Egypt’s Christian population to call on authorities for help. Attacks on churches by Muslim mobs increased since the 2013 military coup that ousted an Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, International Christian Concern reports.
male@ugchristiannews.com
