Luxor4u

The Committee on Religion in the Egyptian Parliament has disclosed plans to pass into law, a bill that makes atheism a criminal offence in the North African nation.

Current Egyptian law says atheists can be prosecuted for expressing their disbelief in public but the committee’s proposal would go further and criminalise disbelief itself.

It would be recalled that in 2014, little more than a week after Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was sworn in as Egypt’s President, the government announced that it was preparing a national plan to crush every form atheism.

A few months later Al-Shabab, a government-linked newspaper, stated that atheists were “the country’s second enemy after the Muslim Brotherhood” and quoted a psychologist saying that “atheism leads to mental imbalances and paranoia”.

As part of its effort to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood the Sisi regime began promoting a version of Islam that is often characterised as “moderate” – though “militantly mainstream” might be a better term.

Source: https://independent.ng/egyptian-parliam ... e-atheism/

I have a piece of 2 x 2 wood I brought here with me, its hardwood, thick and very dense.

I see the Egyptian Ministry of Silly Laws is at it again.

I may have to resurrect my membership of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I should be OK as a paid up member of the Church of the Seventh Day Diabolist
These people get more bizarre as time passes

Horus wrote:I should be OK as a paid up member of the Church of the Seventh Day Diabolist
These people get more bizarre as time passes

True.

It's only a short step to demanding allegiance to the current regime...on pain of death.

Like North Korea.

As a Unitarian I only believe in Me.

I'll happily 'kowtow to any person behind the AK47 whatever the religion or politic agenda....
Ps: Personally I lean toward daoism.

Brian Yare wrote:As a Unitarian I only believe in Me.

I thought they only believed in "U".

DJKeefy wrote:The Committee on Religion in the Egyptian Parliament has disclosed plans to pass into law, a bill that makes atheism a criminal offence in the North African nation.

Current Egyptian law says atheists can be prosecuted for expressing their disbelief in public but the committee’s proposal would go further and criminalise disbelief itself.

It would be recalled that in 2014, little more than a week after Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was sworn in as Egypt’s President, the government announced that it was preparing a national plan to crush every form atheism.

A few months later Al-Shabab, a government-linked newspaper, stated that atheists were “the country’s second enemy after the Muslim Brotherhood” and quoted a psychologist saying that “atheism leads to mental imbalances and paranoia”.

As part of its effort to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood the Sisi regime began promoting a version of Islam that is often characterised as “moderate” – though “militantly mainstream” might be a better term.

Source: https://independent.ng/egyptian-parliam ... e-atheism/

I don't believe this.

When I first saw the article - from a Nigerian source - I had my doubts too Dusak...but, on further investigation, it seems genuine .

Whether it makes it into law is another matter.

Penalising the promotion of a belief (or disbelief) is one thing. Penalising how someone thinks, or what they personally believe (or disbelieve) seems inherently impracticable.

newcastle wrote:When I first saw the article - from a Nigerian source - I had my doubts too Dusak...but, on further investigation, it seems genuine .

Knowing dusak, is reply was tongue in cheek



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DJKeefy wrote:

newcastle wrote:When I first saw the article - from a Nigerian source - I had my doubts too Dusak...but, on further investigation, it seems genuine .

Knowing dusak, is reply was tongue in cheek



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On a more serious note, just how far do you have to go before you start the reversal process of ''The Ages Of Man''?

Taxonomy of Homo sapiens

One of several possible lines of descent, or taxonomic ranking, of Homo sapiens is shown below.
rank Name Common name Millions of years ago

Domain Eukaryota Cells with a nucleus 2,100

Kingdom Animalia Animals 590

Phylum Chordata Chordates (Vertebrates and closely related invertebrates) 530

Subphylum Vertebrata Vertebrates 505

Superclass Tetrapoda Tetrapods (animals with four limbs) 395

(unranked clade) Amniota Amniotes (fully terrestrial tetrapods whose eggs are "equipped with an amnios") 340

Clade Synapsida Proto-Mammals 308

Class Mammalia Mammals 220

Subclass Theria Mammals that give birth to live young (i.e., non-egg-laying) 160

Infraclass Eutheria Placental mammals (i.e., non-marsupials) 125

Magnorder Boreoeutheria Supraprimates, (most) hoofed mammals, (most) carnivorous mammals, whales, and bats 124 - 101

Superorder Euarchontoglires Supraprimates: primates, colugos, tree shrews, rodents, and rabbits 100

Grandorder Euarchonta Primates, colugos, and tree shrews 99 - 80

Mirorder Primatomorpha Primates and colugos 79.6

Order Primates Primates 75

Suborder Haplorrhini "Dry-nosed" (literally, "simple-nosed") primates: apes, monkeys, and tarsiers 63

Infraorder Simiiformes "Higher" primates (Simians): apes and monkeys 40

Parvorder Catarrhini "Downward-nosed" primates: apes and old-world monkeys 30

Superfamily Hominoidea Apes: great apes and lesser apes (gibbons) 28

Family Hominidae Great apes: humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans—the hominids 15

Subfamily Homininae Humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas (the African apes) 8
Tribe Hominini Genera Homo, Pan, and the Australopithecines 5.8

Subtribe Hominina Genus Homo and close human relatives and ancestors after splitting from Pan—the hominins ≥4[1]

Genus Homo Humans 2.5

Subgenus Homo Archaic humans 0.6

Species Homo sapiens Anatomically modern humans 0.3[2]

Subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens Extant modern humans 0.07?

Interesting tree of life Dusak.

Question for the religionists....

I wonder why God, having created life over 2 billion years ago, waited 2 billion years before creating a creature that believed in and worshipped him?

What was he up to inbetween?

This law probably only applies to Islamic Atheists, and maybe a ploy to get an all Islamic State. so watch out Christian Soldiers. Well onward and upward. Oh! isn't that an Easter Event? Persecution, and another threat to human rights.

How can you be an Islamic atheist?

carrie wrote:How can you be an Islamic atheist?

An oxymoron produced by a real one

What oxy or moron?

carrie wrote:What oxy or moron?

Odd initiative given the way Saudi is moving (from a very low base) and initiatives in Gulf States, Morocco, Tunisia (very secular) and Jordan. Its also easy to forget that Algeria has a Muslim population but for nearly 70 years has pursued an aggressive secular policy. The largest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, has been pursuing a general liberal direction and dealing with some regions that want to stay in the past. So far it is working.

So the picture of broader Islam and the use of the civil law to impose 'religious' behavior is mixed and Egypt leads the rear - has it ever been much different since 1952. Whilst It still 'claims' itself as the leader of the region I think it is actually in the rear ranks on all matters and attempts to pull the forward troops to its own decimated reverse/retreat position.

What I find interesting are possible links between a general extreme/backward looking direction in parts of Islam (almost always in the Middle East) over the last century and similar movements within Christianity and now Hinduism - arguably also in Buddhism. For example I head a brief German radio program the other day on two Indian states (combined population 100-200 million) that have outlawed alcohol in extreme terms and as much as an evil western influence as a 'social evil'. A third state Tamil Nadu is on the cusp. This alcohol initiative seems linked with strong elements within the Hindu leadership that are aggressively anti-Christian/anti-Muslim/anti Western and reverses centuries of (tense) peaceful co-existence. There have also been recent reports of widespread mob-style violence against those who sell or eat beef.

The behavior of the current Indian PM on these issues is appalling and he seems - both now and well into the past - to endorse this general direction.

To simplify it - after 70 years the government of the second largest country in the world seems to be abandoning aggressive secularism/minority/human rights and adopting a policy which at its worst proclaims Hindu supremacy/rights/superiority. (there is a history to this 'movement' back into at least the 1930's and its practical ties with Nazi's and their race/blood/culture theories).

Maybe we are seeing something more widespread than just some isolated Mad Muslims going crazy about modernity, internationalism and the west? I also see hardening/backward looking and doctrinaire, but not on religion, positions within western democracies.