by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – In an apparent effort to improve its relations with Egypt’s Christian community, the Islamic Egyptian government last month approved the legalization of 293 previously unlicensed churches and service buildings, All Arab News (AAN) reports.
Following recommendations from the Main Committee under Article 8 of Law No. 80 from 2016, the legalization approval was given during a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly on October 21.
Egypt will now have 3,453 churches and worship centers with legal status,
“Since the passing of that law, Egypt has moved to legalize churches built without prior approval, as well as authorizing the construction of new churches,” AAN said in its report. “The law was meant to address significant administrative and security hurdles in approving the construction of new churches following complaints from the Coptic Christian community.”
In a recent report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom confirmed: “Religious freedom conditions in Egypt are trending tentatively in a positive direction.”
“The country has seen a decrease in radical Islamist violence and anti-Christian mob attacks, some progress in implementing the registration process for unlicensed churches and related buildings, and the launch of a government program to address religious intolerance in rural areas,” the USCIRF noted.
Nevertheless, the USCIRF cautioned: “Systematic and ongoing religious inequalities remain affixed in the Egyptian state and society, and various forms of religious bigotry and discrimination continue to plague the country’s Coptic Christians and other religious minorities.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A municipal beach worker searching Israel’s Mediterranean coastline for items lost by swimmers discovered something far older than expected: an exceptionally rare 2,500-year-old coin minted in ancient Cyprus.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said federal investigators spent approximately eight months locating Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private journals, which Kennedy claimed had been scattered across 11 separate government servers.
Skywatchers are preparing for one of the most remarkable astronomical nights of the decade as a total solar eclipse, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and a broad gathering of six planets converge around August 12.
The United States has condemned the “horrific killing” of nine relatives of Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, a Nigerian pastor whose earlier appeal warned that “fear has become a way of life” in Nigeria’s violence-plagued Plateau State.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice by paying tribute at war memorials and cemeteries, accompanied for the first time by his daughter, Ju Ae, in a move that analysts say further underscores her increasingly prominent public role.
President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran is seeking negotiations after two weeks of sustained American airstrikes, portraying Tehran’s diplomatic outreach as evidence that the U.S. military campaign has forced the Islamic regime back to the bargaining table.
President Donald Trump and three Republican senators are pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep the chamber in session through August until lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act, escalating a growing dispute over one of the president’s top election-integrity priorities.