The religion for the majority of people in the Middle East is Islam. However, the main religion in Israel is Judaism, with small numbers of Jews elsewhere in the Middle East. In Lebanon, there are a lot of Maronites.
A major hindrance was the freedom of religion basically the problem was "Christians in a Muslim Egypt".
A major hindrance to the freedom of religion is the role of the Muslim Brotherhood. Whatever some Western elites might be saying about the "new" Muslim Brotherhood, the truth of the matter is that major Islamic terrorist organizations have their roots in the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.Â
The Muslim Brotherhood, the dynamic Islamist movement that has tried to navigate Egypt's semi-authoritarian system for over six decades, is facing a shrinking political space. For most of the past decade, the Brotherhood has expanded its political role, increasing from 17 to 88 members of Egypt's 620-member People's Assembly. Its success has brought increasing repression from the government. A range of measures have limited the Brotherhood's effectiveness in the People's Assembly, preventing it from forming a political party. In January 2010, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood selected Muhammad Badi as its eighth general guide. While Egypt's leading Islamist movement has sometimes hotly debated the selection of leaders in the past, this time the choice took place under an unprecedented domestic and international spotlight. Muhammad Badi was virtually unknown outside the group. And that itself may be a signal about the Brotherhood's future course. The Brotherhood is a particular target of growing restrictions on political activity. With these developments, the prospect of a more competitive and pluralistic political system in Egypt is rapidly fading [1] .
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