7. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Religious belief

Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The state religion of Egypt is Islam. Although estimates vary greatly in the absence of official statistics. Since the 2006 census religion has been excluded, and thus available statistics are estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies. The country is majority Sunni Muslim (estimated to be 85-90% of the population), with the next largest religious group being Coptic Christians (with estimates ranging from 10-15%). The exact numbers are subject to controversy, with Christians alleging that they have been systemically under-counted in existing censuses.

The ancient Egyptians were not satisfied with little and they demonstrated this in their religion: they had approximately 2000 gods. However, each population knew only their own gods.

Although it may seem distant, the religion of ancient Egypt was one of the most enduring in human history: 3000 years.

Within this religion there are different ranks or hierarchies of the Gods. Thus there were national gods like Amun (God of Light and air) Osiris (God of life, fertility and after death), Isis (the wife of Osiris, was the goddess of the moon), Horus (God of the heavens), Ra (God of the sun and supreme creator), Anubis, Thot and Seth but there were also local gods like Ptah, Ra and Osiris.

The goddes Isis