Egypt's NCHR Symposium: Elimination Of Religion From ID Cards

In the daily Egyptian newspaper 'Nahdat Misr' (Rise & Renaissance of Egypt), an article was published on 11 July 2006, announcing that Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) has scheduled a symposium for early August 2006, to research the elimination of religion from Egypt's new national ID card system. The Council invited a number of leading thinkers, writers, and officials from the Ministry of Religious Endowment, Ministry of Interior, and the Church to attend this symposium and workshop.

The intention of the workshop/symposium is to have its participants research the opinions of all those concerned with the controversial issue of religion on ID cards. They will also research its implications regarding citizenship rights and its effects on Egypt. Another question to be addressed will be whether or not the Egyptian society would support the elimination of religion as an item on National ID Cards.

Ambassador Mokhles Kotb, the Council's Secretary General, stated that "the symposium will discuss several proposals introduced by its 'Citizenship Committee' regarding the elimination of the section on religion from the ID Card based on its study of the statements on civil rights provided in the Egyptian constitution and laws. Also the need to implement these guarantees in form, which would conform to the principles of human rights and the intentional standards regarding such principles."

Eleven more articles appeared in the same newspaper on 13 July 2006 discussing this important issue. The majority of the articles were supportive of the move to eliminate religion from ID Cards pointing out several benefits from doing so, such as: 1) reduction of discrimination, 2) not submitting to Islamic fundamentalism, 3) first step before several other steps in the direction of placing Egypt among modern countries that do not discriminate against their citizens because of their religious differences, 4) compliance with the constitution rather than submission to the interests of religious biases, 5) not having religion on ID cards should not cause problems with civil status matters, such as in marriage, divorce and birth certificates, 6) eliminating religion from ID cards may also necessitate the elimination of Article Two of the Egyptian Constitution stating that "the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence", 7) there may not be a reason for eliminating this item as long as all religions are recognized, including Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Baha'i, and even Buddhist, as ordained in the Koran that there should be freedom of belief, stating "you have your religion, and I have my religion", 8) removal of religion from ID cards would admit Egypt into the modern age of democracy.

The few opposing the move provided no legitimate arguments, but stated: 1) that it is a conspiracy by America and expatriate Copts opposed to Egypt, 2) if religion is removed, the Egyptian public will not remain silent as Egypt is an Islamic country and will remain so, and it does respect other religious beliefs. However, "Eliminating religion from ID cards would allow apostates to escape their deserved punishment."

It is encouraging to see this forward move towards reason and progress, and hopefully such a symposium will become a forum for tolerance and understanding. If a person's religion, however, must be documented somewhere, then why not leave that to the authorities of the religion to whom the person belongs to provide such documentation? This process must be independent of the National ID Card system.

For further reading regarding the issue of Religion and ID Cards, refer to this previous post.