Many Copts have been talking about the civil marriage as a magical solution to personal status cases that Christians have been suffering from. However, marriage in Egypt is usually performed by Muslim or Christian clergy according to the Egyptian law. I believe that Civil marriage for Muslims and Christians may cause several problems including inheritance laws and polygamy.
I believe that legalizing civil marriage for the Copts only should open the door before many problems in Egypt like marriage of the Coptic minor girls. Imagine a Muslim man who wants to marry a Coptic girl. He can do this more easily under a law for civil marriage. Moreover, many of those girls try to return to Christianity after their emotions change or the treatment of their Muslim husbands changes, which opens the door before more dispute and hatred in the community.
Such cases are repeated very often. Therefore, I invite the law makers in Egypt to prevent people who convert from one religion to another from getting marriage permits before three years are passed. This should prove the person has converted based on real conviction and not just temporary emotions.
Once again, I believe that civil marriage is not the solution for problems of personal status law. Dialogue should be our way to solve such problems rather than imposing politics in religious problems this way.
