An organisational meeting took place on Saturday headed by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb to set up the "Egyptian House", a body planned to include Muslim and Christian scholars.

Mostafa El-Fiqi, head of the Arab and Foreign Affairs Committee in the Shura Council declared during the meeting that the name of the newly established body would be changed from "Family House", the name previously suggested, to "Egyptian House", as it represents all Egyptians.   

He added that the state is planning to issue a law dealing with the construction of churches, one that is different from a unified law for places of worship suggested by several opposition groups and parties, claiming that the latter would be too time consuming.  

El-Fiqi also asserted that President Hosni Mubarak is giving much attention to solving mounting tensions. He added that the Egyptian House will include between 15 to 20 representatives from both religions, including political, legal, social and scientific scholars, to study the reasons behind escalating religious strife.  

Al-Tayeb took the initiative to launch the project after the explosion that hit an Alexandria church on New Year's Eve.