The driving question of this paper is, how did Egyptian religious (or, more specifically, sectarian) identity shift during the colonial encounters of the late 19th-early 20th centuries? My study focuses on Sunni Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt, and demonstrates that the colonial encounter led to an increase in religious ‘groupism.’ I explore the ways in which Western Christian constructions of religion as a category contributed theoretically contributed to this shift, which took place on the ground in multiple spaces, including that of missionary schools, which serve as the center point for my analysis of this shift. Ultimately, I argue that the contemporary sectarianism in Egypt is a remnant of the colonial encounter, during which Western ‘world religions’ discourse offered a new way to think about the religious self and the religious other. My primary theoretical sources include Talal Asad and Tomoko Masuzawa, each of whom offers important critiques of the construction of religious categories and the power dynamics that contribute to these endeavors. Additionally, Timothy Mitchell and Bruce Masters, among others, give insight into the specifics of the mechanisms of colonial control and history of sectarian identity, respectively. Heather Sharkey’s writings were also beneficial in gathering data regarding Evangelical missionary activity in Egypt during this period. Finally, I use Nicholas Dirk’s extensive analysis in Castes of Mind of the colonial impact on religious identity in India as a foil for my analysis of Egypt. The presence of Western Christians in Egypt during the colonial period instigated a new way of thinking about oneself and others in religious terms- the ‘world religions’ discourse of the West. Often Westerners assume that the sectarian divisions in the Middle East are organic and historical; however, historical sources argue otherwise. Divisive sectarianism is an ongoing legacy of the colonial encounter which continues to influence the ways in which Egyptians today think about themselves and others in religious terms. This has important implications for the recent Egyptian Revolution. Are Egyptians able to overcome the Western import of sectarian division, or is it too fully embedded in contemporary Egyptian society? I do not attempt to answer this specific question, only to raise it as a possible place in which Egyptians can fight the colonial legacy while creating a more peaceful society.