Part of the problem, part of the solution

If you believe that Egypt enjoys complete and transparent religious freedom and tolerance than stop reading here. If you don’t, and you’re asking the question “who’s responsible”, perhaps this will be of some interest. I would like to preface this by saying these are my impressions of the state of religious tolerance in Cairo after living here for five months as a student and NGO employee. I do not intend to pass judgment or offer my opinion, merely to relate observations.

If you ask, most Egyptians will not openly admit to religious prejudice (perhaps this is because I’m white). If you do a little research you’ll see the Egyptian constitution guarantees the right of free religious practice to all of its citizens. On the surface it would seem that Egypt is free of religious intolerance, yet the past 40 years of Muslim-Copt violence, Baha’i marginalization, and ostracizing of the Jews tell a different story. The history is unappetizing at best, however any religious tension one perceives in Cairo today seems benign.

The question then is where and how does this notorious religious intolerance manifest itself? It’s both private and public, individual and collective, and in the actions of a church and state that are as at odds with one another as they are in cahoots. Speaking to Mohammad today on the bus I learned that religious intolerance does indeed exist in Egypt, but it should not be mislabeled as religious inequality: all represented religions are victims of each other’s stereotyping, but moreover, they are all suffering under the government’s intolerance for religion in general.

Assuming religious tolerance and freedom are desirable, I asked Muhammad who he thought was responsible for the current tension. His response: we are all to blame, but no one is to blame anyone before he or she blames him or herself first. The responsibility falls both on Egypt’s people who profess aspirations of tolerance which they could do more to realize, and on Egypt’s laws, lawmakers, and enforcers who exacerbate the cycle of unfairness with bias legislation, corruption, and negligence.

Essentially, if you’re not doing your part to support the development of a tolerant society, then you are among those responsible for the tension.

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Daniel Bennet is an American student of International Relations; currently interning at the Egypt bureau of the American Islamic Congress.