An Islamist president will be welcomed in Egypt only if he respects the rights of Copts and civil liberties, an Egyptian Coptic leader told Al Arabiya.
Bishop Passanty, the bishop of Helwan and Maasara and a member of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church, made his comments during Al Arabiya’s weekly show Noqtat Nezam (point of Order), aired on Friday.
Passanty’s statements were the first of its kind by a church leader after media reports claimed that Copts voted for former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq during the first round of the presidential election upon church instructions. Bishop Pachomius, the acting pope, has denied these reports, Egypt’s daily al-Masry al-Youm reported.
“If you are elected president, remember all that you have said — that Christians have the same duties and rights that Muslims have… If you abide by this, we would respect you as the president of Egypt and welcome the Islamic rule that would establish a civil state with equal citizenship rights for all Egyptians,” Passanty said in what it seemed as a directed message to Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi.
Passanty said the church does not tell Christians who to vote for and only mentions the qualities of an ideal candidate, including that “he should have wide popular support and previous experience in serving the country.”
The Coptic bishop underlined that he did not declare his support to either candidates and that he was not calling on people to vote for one in particular, he noted that “Shafiq has a good reputation, even in the villages, which demonstrates that he possesses a certain efficiency.”
As for the conditions of the Coptic Christians under the 30-year-rule of toppled president Hosni Mubarak, Passanty said that Copts did not have access to full citizenship rights under former Mubarak. He called for new legislations to criminalize religious discrimination in the country, in which the number of Christians hit around 10 million.
“All we want is for building a church to be as easy as building a mosque,” he said.