Being an atheist in the Middle East

[cbayer]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/03/erasmus

Mar 3rd 2015, 11:38 BY B.C.


EPA

These are bad times for outspoken sceptics in countries where religion is brutally enforced, either by governments or fanatics with a self-appointed mission. Last week the atheist blogger Avijit Roy, who was of Bangladeshi origin but lived in the United States, was hacked to death at a book fair in Dhaka. It has been reported in Saudi Arabia that a young man in his twenties has been sentenced to death after he posted a video of himself ripping up a copy of the Koran.

In the far more comfortable environment of the United States, meanwhile, religious believers and sceptics denounce one another as though they were the greatest banes of one another’s lives. Atheists claim, perhaps correctly, that they face huge societal pressure not to declare their position, especially if they have any hopes of running for public office. Some religious believers say they face a liberal-humanist conspiracy to deny them the freedom to act out their beliefs, whether as employers, employees or in places of education.

But a physically courageous atheist from a Muslim-majority land says that a few months in America have reinforced his belief that believers and sceptics can and should deal courteously with one another and work together for freedom in places where it is dreadfully violated. Maikel Nabil Sanad, a young Egyptian b-logger and protest leader, spent nearly a year in prison, enduring physical abuse and a hunger strike, before his release in January 2012. Both in Germany where he studied for a couple of years and in the area of Washington DC where he moved recently, he has been a guest speaker at Christian churches and synagogues: not, of course, as an advocate of atheism, but to share his views about the Middle East, democracy and liberty.

more at link

[trotsky]

1. "Atheists claim... that they face huge societal pressure not to declare their position"

It's even frowned upon at DU by people who help promote the notion that to be an atheist is to stake out a claim of certainty. People who shy away from the label, insist that despite not believing in any gods, that they are "agnostic" as if it were a separate category.

All feeding and perpetuating the stigma surrounding the word "atheist."