Patriarch Antonius Naguib, the head of the Coptic Catholic Church, interviewed at Aid to the Church in Need:
Q) There is an allegation or suggestion that some conversions from Christianity to Islam are based on economic reasons or interest. We spoke about this earlier that Christians have difficulty sometimes to secure employment because their cards indicate their religious affiliation. The high unemployment in Egypt hovers around 10%; is it beneficial for a Christian to convert to Islam just for the sake of employment opportunities? Is this the case?
A) There are some cases but I would not agree to say that this is the primary reason. There are, I think, two principal reasons. One is based on marriage. The easiest way to get out of a marriage, for a Christian whether its the man or the woman, is to become Muslim – for them it is easy to divorce and have the benefit of full rights against the other partner or spouse and full custody of the children. The second reason is the weakness in one’s faith. This is due to the lack of good formation in one’s faith. There are some regions, villages and in some quarters of the city where there is not enough pastoral care. The Islamic appeal and the secular media greatly influences and easily contributes to this failure in one’s steadfastness towards one’s faith because of the lack of a solid faith foundation.
Via Catholic Culture.
