In a legal ruling that has far-reaching implications, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court last week ordered Pope Shenouda III to allow two Coptic Christians, in two separate cases, to remarry after divorce.

At present the Coptic church does not allow re-marriage except in very limited circumstances – for example, in proven cases of adultery or if a spouse converts to another faith.

The court decided that the "right to family formation is a constitutional right, which is above all other considerations". This, in effect, asserts the authority of the state over that of the church.

At one level, the decision can be viewed as an extension of personal freedom and, in the words of a Reuters report, a challenge to "the church's efforts to hold sway over its flock". 

Equally, though, it can be seen as an extension of the state'salready-pervasive control over religion. The Coptic church, not unreasonably, claims a right to manage its own affairs and ought to be allowed to decided who it will, or will not, marry.

The whole problem could be neatly avoided civil marriages were recognised as an alternative – but that would call into question Egypt's faith-based system of family law.

Meanwhile, Pope Shenouda has rejected the court's ruling. "We are only bound by the Holy Bible," he said in a sermon on Monday. He threatened to defrock any priest who allows a divorced Christian to remarry, except in the specific cases permitted by the church.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 2 June 2010.