CAIRO, April 30, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – A group of Muslim intellectuals and academics have launched an initiative to promote religious tolerance and combat discrimination against non-Muslims in society after a recent attack on churches aggravated long-festering Muslim-Christian tensions.

"I was alarmed by the latest incident in Alexandria and started feeling that national unity was really in danger," Mohammad Munir Mugahid, the father of the "Muslims Against Discrimination" initiative, told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, April 30.

One Christian was killed and at least five others were wounded in knife attacks at churches in the northern city of Alexandria on April 14.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry said the rampage was the work of a "mentally unstable."

Christian leaders did not buy the official theory, calling on the government to admit Muslim-Christian tensions and address their roots.

"We want to cement national unity since the state has failed to do so, standing firmly in the face of anti-Christian hysteria and staunchly defending our religion against sullying campaigns," said Mugahid.

He complained that some sermons, tapes and TV programs incite hatred against Christians.

Abul Izz El-Hariri, a senior leader of the opposition left-wing Al-Tagamu party and a founding member, said the initiative "rejects and resists all forms of discrimination against non-Muslims.

"We want all Egyptian citizens to be treated on equal terms and enhance freedom of religion," he said.

Hariri added that it is a "duty" on Egyptian Muslims as a majority to put an end to all forms of discrimination against minorities.

"We believe that the Muslim majority shoulders the responsibility of promoting religious tolerance and allowing no room for discrimination."

Mugahid agreed that it was a duty on the majority to help the minority integrate into society and counter extremists.

There are no official figures available on the number of Christians in Egypt with estimates putting the figures between six and ten million.

According to the CIA World Fact Book, Muslims make up 90 percent of the country's some 78 million people, while Christians represent 10 percent.

Mugahid hoped that Christian compatriots would soon join the fledging initiative.

"The initiative will then turn to 'Egyptians Against Discrimination' and serve as a springboard for a joint Muslim-Christian action against all forms of fanaticism and discrimination against both Muslims and Christians alike," he said.

The initiators have urged the "people of reason" to join them to face those who want to pit the Egyptians against one another in the name of religion, and to address the underlying causes of Muslim-Christian tensions.

The deadliest recent communal clashes occurred in October 2005 when Muslim protestors attacked a church in Alexandria for hosting a play offensive to Islam, killing three people.

A 19-year-old Muslim who stabbed a nun during the rioting was sentenced to three years in jail in February.

Prominent Coptic leaders in Egypt have blamed Copts abroad, particularly in the United States, for trying to internationalize problems facing Copts at home.