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Christianity is the second largest religion in Egypt. [note 1] [1] The vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts. As of 2019, Copts in Egypt make up approximately 10 percent of the nation's population, with an estimated population of 9.5 million or 10 million. In 2018, approximately 90% of Egyptian Christians were Coptic Orthodox.
Since 2006, Egyptian censuses have not reported on religion and church leaders have alleged that Christians were under-counted in government surveys. In 2017, a government owned newspaper Al Ahram estimated the percentage of Copts at 10 to 15% and the membership claimed by the Coptic Orthodox Church is in the range of 20 to 25 million.
While freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents."
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present and in control of the world.
The share of Christians in the Egyptian population has according to official statistics been declining with the highest share reported in the past century being in 1927, when the official census put the percentage of Egyptian Christians at 8.3%. In each of the seven subsequent censuses, the percentage shrank, ending at 5.7% in 1996. [7]
One Coptic councilor in 1637 referred to the Roman Church in Egypt as "a brothel". [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Attempts to excommunicate Catholic offenders in the city were seemingly fruitless. [ 6 ] Agathangelo would later be hanged as a martyr in Ethiopia by order of the Ethiopian king in 1638, [ 7 ] and the mission in Cairo would start to decline.
On the other hand, the native Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church came to be viewed by Egyptians as one with institutional continuity since the establishment of Christianity in Egypt by Saint Mark, and the non-Chalcedonian see of Alexandria was seen to form a long direct line that obtained its legitimacy from sound theological beliefs and internal ...
Christian Monasticism was born in Egypt and was instrumental in the formation of the Coptic Orthodox Church character of submission, simplicity and humility, thanks to the teachings and writings of the Great Fathers of Egypt's Deserts. By the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered ...