Washington DC: October 25, 2016. (IDC) In 2013, Egypt's Christian community suffered the worst violence in perhaps a thousand years at the hands of violent extremists. Dozens of churches were razed, prompting many Coptic Christians to leave Egypt. The situation has stabilized somewhat, but there is still much work to be done to promote equality and fundamental human rights for religious minorities in Egypt. While the Egyptian Constitution states that freedom of belief is “absolute,” Islam is the state religion and many laws continue to actively discriminate against Christians. National identification cards invite discrimination by requiring religious identification. Christian men are prohibited from marrying Muslim women. Egypt’s blasphemy law prevents citizens from “ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife,” which can result in both state-sanctioned discrimination and vigilante justice. Recently the law has been enforced more aggressively, and most of the prison sentences have been given to Christians, Shi’a Muslims and atheists. Violent attacks against Copts, particularly in Upper Egypt, have been condemned by the Egyptian government, but little has been done to protect people or places of worship. Furthermore, perpetrators of these sectarian crimes are rarely punished. Instead, local authorities conduct “customary reconciliation” sessions between Muslims and Christians. These reconciliation sessions do not result in punishment and Christians are often dissuaded from taking legal action. While it was encouraging to see that the Egyptian government has made progress towards repairing the churches that were damaged by the sectarian violence of August 2013, there are still a number of properties that have not been restored. On September 14, Congressman Dave Trott announced the introduction of H.R.5974, the Coptic Churches Accountability Act. The legislation specifically: •Acknowledges sectarian motivated attacks committed against Egypt's Coptic Christians •Enforces the Coptic Christians status as indigenous citizens of Egypt •Requires the State Department to submit a report to Congress detailing the progress the Egyptian government has made in restoring or repairing burned, damaged, or otherwise destroyed Christian religious property during the period of sectarian violence in August 2013.