EGYPT | The battle to eradicate religion of ID My faith 'none of your business'

"Muslim or Christian??" It is a question of rigor among Egyptians. A natural question which eavesdrops the newly landed or uncover the unknown. The religious DNA is branded on the identity card. It has its own box and no one escapes its restricted classification: Muslim, Christian or Jewish. Shouting ' Not your business 'censorship campaign now state interference in the vicissitudes of faith and guilt of sectarian violence that bleeds the country. The initiative is so simple and direct. A few days ago the journalist Sarah Carr hung up on Facebook a picture of your ID with the box provided for religious confession covered with a piece of paper that said "None of your business." And then woke up a torrent of similar reactions. "The response has been really positive. People are posting pictures of their cards with the religion section covered and is sending them with words of support, " ELMUNDO.es recognizes British-Egyptian reporter. "It is true that there are critical line 'this is a stupid campaign because religion is as obvious as the name or likeness' or' I'm proud of my religion and you are about infidels' "says Carr But - aggregate forget who attack the idea that "there is no denying the religious, but to prevent state interference in personal matters of faith." Since publishing his instant, the example has spread among hundreds of surfers. A Facebook page brings together the frames of the protest. "Cover the box appropriated to religion is necessarily an act of protest , "says Carr A clamor to" tell the State that its classification of citizens according to their religion is harmful and embodies the failure of Egypt to discuss religious matters and freedom of religion ". The Arab country with a Muslim majority , holds one of the most prominent Christian minorities and active in the Middle East. It is estimated that 10% of the population professes the doctrine of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In fact, Carr-Muslim, according to his card-concocted after covering the campaign with rage, the unusual attack on the Coptic cathedral in Cairo happened earlier this month. The assault of 'baltaguiya' (thugs), with the complicity of the police, was the brutal epilogue's funeral several faithful killed in a sectarian squabbles in the north. "There is no need for this information. Has no other purpose than tounleash the prejudices of officials. "

There is no place for non-believers

The box, a legacy of six decades of military rule and tight state control, never left blank except for the Baha'is. Atheists and agnostics, of course, no place for their lack of faith is simply unimaginable. "Since the introduction of electronic identity cards, the field of religion has been the main source of controversy and alienation by limiting entry to three religions and to promote discriminatory practices in any daily activity, "they explain on the website of the Egyptian Baha'is. Since the campaign 'Not your business' stress that paragraph is a "reminder that the handling of religion in recent decades, the classification of people according to their faith, has only managed to alienate each other and intensify the problem sectarian ". And against the division, wit: the participants have sent photographs with the legends of "what the hell has this to you?" or a brief "human being." Some even, as a 'collage', has used the word "sponge", taken from some popular advertising TV Spongebob creature. The battle to eradicate the religion of DNI -with some background in the last years of the dictatorship of Mubarak - is nothing short of Pharaonic, since it is unthinkable with political Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood, installed in the Government and the President of the country. But campaign officials cited the example of Lebanon , whose government allows its citizens since 2009 to remove religious affiliation from identity documents. And not a trivial plácet: the box could settle life or death in Lebanon, frayed by civil war and sectarian trenches. In the land of the Pharaohs, however, lives are marked by an identity card.As Mohamed Hegazy, born Muslim and converted to Christianity as a teenager. During decades, Mohamed-renamed Bishoy, has called on the Egyptian state official recognition of his conversion . "You can believe what you want in your heart, but on paper can not be converted", ruled a few years ago a judge. But he tirelessly continues to struggle. "I aspire to put my true religion in the card or cancel the box.'s A natural right," he told this newspaper over a year ago.