Egypt's Embattled Atheists

[onager]

Good Al-Jazeera article from Nov. 2013. It mentions a couple of cases like the Nigerian atheist, where families tried to have people declared insane for being atheists.

Contains the very sad story of a 53-yr-old woman who eventually got a psychiatrist to certify that she was sane. Her damn family STILL insisted she was crazy for questioning religion.

One minor quibble - the article says civil marriages are not possible in Egypt. They're sort of possible. They are called "urfi" marriages. The couple basically signs a contract saying they are married. You can find hours of fascinating reading about them online, generally written by very pissed-off people. Urfi marriages are often a scam perpetrated by either (1) foreign workers against Egyptian women or (2) Egyptian men against foreign women.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/egypt-embattled-atheists-20131114184645790660.html

[JNelson6563]

1. Very interesting!

Yet again, after reading that, I just marvel at how terrifying the notion of atheismis to many believers. I find it to be revealing as to their own doubts about that which they fear not believing in.

Julie