Religious News Service from the Arab World

Egyptian press paid special attention to Easter festivities. It elaborated on the spiritual connotations of Easter and resurrection and reports the "Happy Easter" wishes Pope Shenouda and all Copts received from officials and Muslim religious leaders.

Overview of churches in al-Ashmonein and a description of the claims of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Brethren Church on one and the same church building. The relations between Orthodox Christians and Muslims and Brethren and Muslims are obviously better than those between the two Christian denominations in al-Ashmonein.

Christians thank president Mubarak for making January 7 a holiday.
Announcement of this issue of RNSAW being the last one with this name.

The three authors criticize reporting in the Layman, an American Presbyterian publication, claiming Christians in Egypt are persecuted. They believe the author of this article was ill-informed and provided readers with wrong information. The Layman got the opportunity to respond to their criticism but choose not to, not a sign of confidence in their own work.

President of the National Egyptian Heritage Revival Association (NEHRA) is upset about the story of the Sunday Telegraph. He said it presents an angle he did not present. He believes there are too many guards at the site his organization restored but this is nothing new. Veash, however, had been able to create a sensational story out of a routine practice of protecting ancient sites and neglected the issue he had raised of managing the site.

Paul Perry says that despite no reporter from Sabah Al-Kheir attempted to contact him regarding his photograph, the magazine captured his feelings about this amazing experience. He thinks he did photograph a miracle, which was an answer to a question of his since beginning a study of the Holy Family, namely: When is a vision truly a vision and when is it a dream?

The article gives an overview of the contents of three books about Coptic Orthodox ecclesiastical law, published by the Monastery of Makarios. The three books are “The Dispensation of the Institution of the Church and the Discipline of the Priesthood,” “The Spiritual Authority in the Church and the Ecclesiastic Juridical Tradition in Choosing and Ordaining the Pope of Alexandria” and “The Divine Dispensation in the structure of the Church.”

An overview of the activities of the Coptic Catholic peace movement Justice and Peace in Egypt.

The text of a lecture on human rights and civil society in Egypt, including a discussion on numbers of exaggerated stories in the West, rumors and civil society.

Between October 10, 1998 and October 2002 80 permits had been given for restauration, 9 for renovation and 3 for completely rebuilding a church (tearing it to the ground and rebuilding it again). Six more permits have been requested and are now being processed.