More Islamic tolerance in Egypt. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:
CAIRO, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Hundreds of angry Christians demonstrated at a church southwest of Cairo in protest at what they described as the kidnapping and forced conversion of two young women to Islam, police sources said on Monday.
It was the second incident of its kind in three months in Egypt, where there are sporadic outbreaks of violence and tension between the Muslim and Christian communities.
The two women, medical graduates Marianne Makram Ayad and Teresa Ibrahim, went to the home of relatives after spending Sunday evening under police protection in the town of Fayoum, 90 km (55 miles) from Cairo, church sources said on Monday. It was not clear whether they still considered themselves Christian.
In the Mar Girgis church in the town on Sunday, hundreds of Christian men carrying crosses had demanded the women return to their community, on the grounds that they had been compelled to convert.
A security official said in a statement that Christian religious leaders were giving the two young women advice. “(Official) measures proclaiming them Muslim have not been taken,” the official said.
Conversion is a sensitive subject in Egypt. Coptic Christians are free to convert to Islam while Muslims cannot convert to Christianity. Muslim men can marry Coptic women but Coptic men cannot marry Muslim women without converting.