Cairo – Only 33% of Egyptian youth consider the relationship with God really important, while the possibility of giving reasons with persuasive arguments of one’s own religious faith is shared only by 67% of the Egyptian population. These are data contained in a report presented in recent days by Coptic Orthodox priest Matta Badie to a large sector of the Coptic Orthodox clergy in the Cairo area. The speaker indicated the adherence to materialistic scientific theories among the reasons for the growth of indifferentism and practical atheism among the young, but also the reaction of rejection before the growth of justified violence with religious arguments and the increasing spread of occultism.
It is not possible to quantify the number of atheists and agnostics in Egypt, also because atheist propaganda and the public profession of atheism can be pursued on the basis of the legal provisions that punish blasphemy.
In 2014, the Ministry for Youth and the Ministry of Religious Endowments had announced the use of a joint strategy to combat doctrines and “harmful” ideas, a category in which both atheism and religious extremism were associated.
In July 2015, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros also announced study initiatives to try to understand and address the phenomenon of the spread of atheism and religious indifferentism among young Egyptians from Christian families. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the attempt to stem the phenomenon was expressed in the recent past also in lectures and conferences.
“Let us work together to replace despair with HOPE, fear with human SECURITY and humiliation with DIGNITY”
