Evangelical pastor from Egypt prophetically calls for freedom, equality and justice

The pastor of the leading evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt, made an unprecedented prophetic appeal for freedom, equality and justice – but stressed that his church does not interfere in the question of how and who should achieve this.

Daoud Kuttab

Rev. Sameh Maurice, pastor of Kasr al Dubara Church in central Egypt, delivered a prophetic sermon on Friday, August 23, and was greeted with a standing ovation as he insisted on following Jesus' commandment to love one's enemies.

Maurice deviated from his church's monthly theme by explaining a statement he co-signed calling some Western churches to dialogue. The Aug. 5 statement, titled “Joint Call of Evangelicals in the Middle East,” was signed by 21 church leaders in Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and called the global church to dialogue. It came at a time when the war on Gaza, which has brought death and destruction to tens of thousands, including Palestinian Christians and churches, has some Western leaders justifying Israeli violence against Palestinians. (For more, see “Arab Evangelical Christians Invite Zionist Evangelicals to Restore 'One Body in Christ'”)

But the powerful sermon came not from direct criticism of Western church leaders, but from some Arab Christians, mostly television commentators, speaking from a Christian television studio in the United States. They sharply attacked and even insulted the signatories for criticizing Islamophobia and Christian Zionism. The criticized paragraph read: “We unequivocally reject any form of violence against civilians in pursuit of justice (Jeremiah 22:3; Romans 3:15-18) and strongly condemn all religious, political and social ideologies that hinder lasting peace, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and Christian Zionism.”

On a whiteboard, the Egyptian pastor went through the statement and presented clear theological disagreements with Jews and Muslims from a faith perspective. However, the pastor emphasized love for the Jews, who were the first believers, and for the Muslims with whom the Egyptians lived. Pastor Maurice spoke of his relationship with the Jews and told the story of how Egyptian Christian churches put up signs asking for forgiveness after the murder of Egyptian workers in Libya.

Maurice also studied theology, rejected dispensationalism, and insisted that Christians were the beneficiaries of God's grace according to the New Testament.

The pastor dismissed criticism that the 1,200-word statement was a political document. He spoke with conviction but hesitated at times so as not to cause harm to local authorities and communities. He expressed concerns about what he would say while looking at his elders and waiting to hear from his congregation, who repeatedly supported him by clapping for his bold remarks. The church board later issued a strong statement supporting his position.

He said the church supports three principles: freedom, equality and justice (which seem close to some of the slogans of the Egyptian Arab Spring that led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak).

YouTube screenshot of Rev. Sameh Maurice’s sermon

He began by stressing the importance of religious freedom in a country that is home to Islam's leading religious institution, Al-Azhar University, where every citizen must have a particular religion and Muslims are not allowed to change their faith. He said Christians should have the freedom to change their religion if they wish and insisted that no one should prevent them from doing so. But then this demand was followed up with a bold follow-up, namely that others, including Muslims, should have the same right to change their religion to Christianity.

Rev. Maurice spoke about the importance of equality in his homeland, saying that Egyptians are equal citizens according to the constitution. He explained that the constitution guarantees equal rights to all citizens, so a woman's testimony should be as important as that of a man, and that equality means that all people, whether Muslim or Christian, rich or poor, should be treated equally by the government. According to Islamic Sharia law, two women are equal to one man when testifying in financial matters.

Pastor Maurice quoted verses from the Old and New Testaments and spoke about justice. He stressed that his voice was a prophetic voice and that he would be a coward if he did not speak out. He spoke passionately about the need for social justice in his country, but also touched on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying that we cannot remain silent when people are starving. He stressed that it is part of the Church's duties to demand an end to the bloodshed and the right to bring food to Gaza, stressing that this is not politics but the core mission of the Church.

He related that during the Egyptian elections, he used the pulpit to encourage his congregation to vote, but he firmly opposed any intervention. People asked me who they should vote for and he responded, but firmly stated that as a church we refuse to support anyone, including members of our church. He jokingly said we could have put up a candidate and asked people to pray for him to avoid the issue. Still, we refused any intervention, stressing that the church was for freedom, equality and justice, but the how and who was politics and the church refused to deal with it.

He condemned both the violence of Hamas and that of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Pastor Sameh Maurice began his speech with long quotes from the Sermon on the Mount and ended it with Jesus’ command in Matthew 5: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you.” His entire congregation responded with a standing ovation.

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and editor of Milhilard.org, a website for Christians in Jordan and Palestine. Follow him on X @daoudkuttab and Threads @daoud.kuttab