"Seventh-day Adventist Church officials in Egypt are expressing concern over a proposed draft of the nation’s Personal Status Law that would classify the Adventist Church as a non-Christian denomination.
Local Adventist Church officials said the new classification would have a negative impact on the Church’s work and image among other Christians in Egypt.
Salib said the current draft of the law was submitted to the Egyptian government more than three decades ago but was not adopted. Over the years, Adventists have made several attempts to meet with leaders of other Christian groups in Egypt to explain the denomination’s Protestant identity. Still, no steps have been taken to remove Adventists from the list of non-Christian churches.
Now, as Egypt is heading toward building a more democratic Constitution, the law proposed by the Christian minority is under serious discussion.
“I am saddened by the fact that some churches consider us as a non-Christian denomination, while the government recognizes us as Christians and gives us our full freedom to worship,” Salib said.
On Sunday, a delegation from the denomination’s Egypt-Sudan Field will meet with the Ministry of Transmitting Justice to discuss the matter. Church officials have already sent a letter to news agencies pointing out that the Adventist Church has existed in Egypt for more than 100 years and was officially registered in the early 1950s, Salib said." ANN
O Lord, hear;
O Lord, forgive;
O Lord, hearken and do;
defer not,
for thine own sake, O my God:
for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Daniel 9:19
