When meeting any body in the street, in the bus, in public places, when reading a book for any author, when adding friend on facebook, I never ask about his religion. I don’t know whether if he/she is Muslim, Christian or something else, and our relation may last for years without any back ground about this. I, as many people do, never care about it. may be I care about asking about his / her country , out of curiosity , as asking about his nationality may rise many topics to discuss . I don’t care about nationality, I believe in the unity of the world, not only the unity of the Arab countries, and I wrote many times about this topic.

This point of view is worthy to be considered specially these days as we live in a new world which imposes new rules , we live in the age of globalization , and the unity of the universe , this idea which is slowly developing but it is real . The rules of this new world imply accepting the other as he is, what ever his religion is or even has no worship at all. It is not a civility of me, but it is a Divine command. It was mentioned in the Holy Quran.

To be religious is something personal. It is only related to the man and God. And this relation has no need to be proved or declared. Religion is considered as one information about someone, about it is still something private exactly as the personal culture, personal status, the own point of view, the favorite meals, etc. Religion and faith is something that no one knows about but God.

 The humanistic and religion values are the same in all religions and worships all over the world. If you look at the principles and the rules of good manners in general, you will find it the same which Islam calls for. For example : no one says that putting your hand into the fire is good , as every one knows very well that fire is harmful , the same with all the values and manners , all are approved by all religions with no difference in the main bases.

 In Egypt, we grew up with our Christian brothers, and it was normal for us that there were Christian neighbors, Christian classmates or Christian colleagues. We dealt with them in all position. There were a Christian teacher, doctor, accountant, tailor, etc. And both of the Muslims and the Christians are the two parts of our society. There were no special features for one of them that make his distinguished from the other; we have the same features, the same faces, the same merits and also the same demerits.

 The Egyptian society is distinguished by the strong relationship between its two elements, the Christians and Muslims, and this relation was always a source of our pride and it was expressed by saied Darweesh , an Egyptian poet . We, the Egyptians, are very proud of these two elements and respect them. Culture is different from religion, as it is a group of several civilization constituents whose origins were based before the start of the different religions and worship on the earth.

 I still remember my best friend of my childhood " Ashraf George " he was my best friend and my classmate in our school at that time " Al- Nasr primary school in kafr AL- zayat " Also I remember his kind mother , a housewife , and his father , an official , and his sister .

I still remember the religious portraits that hanging on the walls of his house which represent the Virgin Mary, the Holy land. Ashraf was very brilliant student. He kept by heart the sura of the holy Quran that the teacher taught us in the time when some other Muslims students didn’t.

 I remember anther friend of mine , Abd- Al monem  , who bought , by installments , a plot of land from a Christian man .After that he found some difficulties in paying some installments and went to the origin owner of the land who was Christian , and told him about his bad financial circumstances and offered to give him the land back and repeal the deal , but the Christian man was so generous that he canceled some installments , so the payment could be easier for my friend , and then he was able to pay all the installments .

  I remember Ms Alice, my music teacher at the primary school, and also Mrs Triza , good effort in work .

 And many other examples that are not abnormal or strange for the Egyptian people. Christians are always a part of this society not a mere element , Christians are one of the main components of the Egyptian society , Muslims and Christians are brothers who share every thing together , citizenship , poverty , richness, struggling , success, failure, the high level of prices , the governmental routine , victory , defeat and suffering . Both of the Muslims and the Christian were injured in wars in the favor of their country , both of them suffered the defeat in 1967 and also celebrated victory in 1973 together . 

Even the love stories between a Christian girl and a Muslim boy were very normal.

The Christian girl changed to be Muslim so they could marry. The Egyptian society dealt with such cases without any kind of intolerance or racism. Religious affairs are considered to be personal liberty. But there are some curious people who discuss this marriage as a challenge for the society.

  Some may feel envy for being no difference between the Muslim and the Christian in Egypt. May be this is one of the secrets of being the Egyptian society a great one. The Egyptian society has the ability to deal with many different races, and cultures. Even the colonists who seized Egypt before, The Egyptian people could make use of their culture.

  Through the ages , many colonists had seized Egypt , for example , the Romans , the English and the French colonists , but never any of their languages or beliefs had  affected the Egyptian people , although other  peoples up till now speak the language  of their colonist even after their emancipation .

  Speaking about the crimes between Muslims and Christians, they whether are such ordinary crimes that happen in any community out of self-interest, daily treatment and the eternal conflict between good and evil that exists in any society .Or, these crimes are just conspiracies which were plotted to destroy the Egyptian unity.

  Of course there are some intolerant, and criminals here or there, who became so fanatic for their religion. According to psychology, it is natural, but any way, most of the Egyptian people believe in the unity of the society with its two elements, the Muslims and Christians.

 Of course there are some problems which were discussed freely and honestly by the Egyptian news media, through the last 10 years.

These discussions were not allowed before.

It is considered as a new step in the right direction as the open free discussion is the first step to solve problems and convince the other which is better than ignoring him at all.