Written by Don Byrd
During her trip to Egypt, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton met with newly elected President Morsi and answered questions about that meeting in a press conference. While not mentioning religion and the issue of religious minorities directly, she seemed to point in that direction.
[T]he President and I discussed the importance of keeping Egypt’s democratic transition moving forward, and I commended him on his pledge to serve all Egyptians, including women and minorities and to protect the rights of all Egyptians. President Morsi made clear that he understands the success of his presidency and, indeed, of Egypt’s democratic transition depends on building consensus across the Egyptian political spectrum, to work on a new constitution at parliament, to protect civil society, to draft a new constitution that will be respected by all, and to assert the full authority of the presidency.
Secretary Clinton is right. The Egyptian democracy will succeed only as far as it respects the rights of all citizens, including those who may not follow the dominant religion.
