Not Egypt, for sure. Al Jazeera talks to some.
For a time after the 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak, there was greater freedom of expression in the country, and atheists began to be more publicly assertive. Yet at the same time, the power and influence of conservative Islam grew, with the election of Mohamed Morsi as president and Islamist parliamentary candidates’ success at the ballot box.
Gabr is a member of an atheist group that meets up for drinks and goes to concerts together. When the group began in 2011, it had three or four members. Now it has close to 100, including men and women, ex-Muslims and ex-Christians.
“All of them are angry, in a way that you can’t imagine,” he said. “They insult everything.” Gabr claimed he has received threats from people on Facebook threatening to kill him with a sword. “I don’t take these messages seriously,” he said. “For me, it is pathetic. I see them as victims.” Nevertheless, he did not want to use his real name for this article.
For atheists and those perceived to be critical of religion in Egypt, the threat of violence and persecution is real. Although atheism is not technically illegal in Egypt, its penal code criminalises “contempt of heavenly religions”, desecrating religious symbols and mocking religious rites in public.
Dang – contempt for religion is a crime in Egypt. Just think: if I were in Egypt I would be breaking the law, without even being able to help it.
According to the Pew Research Center, 74 percent of Egyptian Muslims want sharia, or Islamic law, to be recognised as the official law. Of those committed to sharia law, 86 percent favour the death penalty for those who leave Islam – although this is technically defined in the survey as those who join another faith.
And things don’t look likely to improve any time soon.
A new constitution is being drafted in the wake of Morsi’s ousting. A group of atheists recently called for this document to respect freedom of expression and to protect atheists. They called for the repeal of several articles, including Article Two, which states that Islam is the religion of the state and that sharia is the basis for legislation. However, it appears unlikely they will get the protections they are looking for.
A chilly kind of spring.
“contempt of heavenly religions”, desecrating religious symbols and mocking religious rites in public.
No,“contempt of heavenly religions” is a crime.
How do you tell a heavenly religion from an unheavenly one, though?
@^
That’s easy. If it’s a religion Islamists want to denounce, it’s not heavenly.
Come to think of it… isn’t killing someone for joining another faith “contempt for religion”?
Silentbob,
If that killing is performed on the basis of religiosity, then clearly not.
I note one can be an atheist whilst pretending to be a religious believer, so that strictly speaking, the OP refers to being an ‘out’ atheist.
@ 4 John Morales
My comment was tongue in cheek. But actually, I disagree. One can be religious but nevertheless have contempt for other religions. And if there is no contempt for other religions, why the death penalty?
@ 5
If that was directed at me, I was responding to the quoted sentence @3, not to specifically anti-atheist prejudice.
[meta]
Silentbob @6, my #5 was in response to the OP, not to your comment.
[OT]
Regarding your disagreement, I think it lacks merit, and I here address each of your contentions:
(1) ‘Contempt for religion’ is not the same as ‘contempt for a religion’ — one is a general claim, the other a particular claim.
(Or: if someone hates oysters yet loves lobster, it would be misleading to say they hate seafood)
(2) It is quite possible for one to respect other religions (cf. people of the Book*) whilst holding that apostasy from one’s own merits capital punishment; I think that this is probably the case for many of the respondents to which the above-mentioned Pew report refers.
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* Which incidentally answers the wry question @1.
@ John Morales
(1) Yes, we have been talking at cross purposes. You have been interpreting “contempt for religion” to mean contempt for all religions, I have been interpreting it to mean contempt for any religion.
I concede that if one had contempt for religion per se, one would not call for the execution of others of religious grounds!
(2) I take your point. I still find it hard to believe that so great a penalty as death does not indicate that other theologies or belief systems must be seen as contemptuous, even if tolerated.
Also, by contemptuous, I mean contemptible. :-/
Thanks, Silentbob.
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I think it’s pretty obvious that when the religious* with power rely on coercion via these sort of blasphemy and apostasy laws, it’s indicative that they consider their religion can’t thrive on its merits alone — so that they are scared to let people choose what to believe about the religion for themselves.
(Hard not to find that contemptible)
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* In Egypt, Islamists currently hold power — and whether they’re (as they see it) serving the religion or the religion is serving them may be significant. If the latter, then I think there’s more hope.
And our government is giving my tax money to these people! Gr-r-r-r. What do the Egytians have that we want? Ah, Suez, I guess.