The Egyptian government released an order last week granting legal status to 191 church buildings that previously lacked official recognition. In total, 3,804 churches and related buildings have been approved since the creation of a committee to review churches in 2016, according to media reports and watchdog group Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Thousands of churches and associated buildings have been built in recent decades. Still, Egypt maintains a system for approving Christian places of worship that is separate from — and more difficult than — that for Sunni Muslim places of worship.