Egypt's Sisi opens mega-mosque and Middle East's largest cathedral in New Capital

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS JANUARY 6, 2019 / 2:29 PM / UPDATED 39 MINUTES AGO

Egypt's Sisi opens mega-mosque and Middle East's largest cathedral in New Capital

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated Egypt’s largest church and mosque in the New Administrative Capital on Sunday, the eve of Coptic Christmas, in a message of tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country.

Copts, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East, were due hold a midnight mass in the Cathedral of the Nativity, billed by the government as the Middle East’s largest church, a few hours after the inauguration.

Coptic Christians make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s nearly 100 million people and have long complained of discrimination under laws that favor Muslims.

They have also increasingly been targeted in recent years by Islamist militants including Islamic State, which is waging an insurgency in the north of the remote Sinai Peninsula.

Foreign dignitaries and officials including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit flanked Sisi at the opening, state television showed.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-religion/egypts-sisi-opens-mega-mosque-and-middle-easts-largest-cathedral-in-new-capital-idUSKCN1P00L9

[Igel]

1. Unconvinced.

1. It's in a new area. Churches have a backlog for construction and renovation because nearby mosques block them.

2. There's no population yet. They built a cathedral with no membership. No point begrudging the "half the size" bit, since the Xian population's so much smaller.

3. It's unclear what perks or privileges it'll enjoy. Will it be like many churches that are allowed to exist provided that the Xians go in quietly, leave quietly, and people barely know they're there? None of those processions, bell ringings, etc., to offend the sensibilities of the Muslims?

Humorous, that there's essentially an unused church building and they still need to station the military outside of it.

Still indistinguishable from PR.