Egyptian Cleric OK With Atheists - Just Not In Egypt

[onager]

Filed under "Religion Of Peace Strikes Again." Found this at My Secret Atheist Blog, which looks pretty interesting. First time I've seen that blog.

Here's some revealed wisdom from Khaled al-Gindhi. An Egyptian Muslim cleric who's perfectly OK with Egyptian atheists having human rights...as long as they don't try to live in Egypt.

How can we argue with this sort of inclusive, theologically sophisticated logic?

It was unfortunate that (atheists) were allowed to appear in the media. They say: "God does not exist. The Prophet is like ISIS" and other baseless, nauseating things, that we, unfortunately, heard.

What we need are not polite sheiks, but someone to knock some sense into them...

We are a people of believers, whether Christian or Muslim. We have an age-old belief in God. We are the most ancient believing people in history. It's in our DNA.

If you (atheists) don't like the fact we are believers, go find yourself another nation. Stay away from us. Such blatant atheism constitutes an attack on the fundamentals of society...

We must not allow any affront to religion.

I bet he'd be very popular in some DU groups.

http://www.mysecretatheistblog.com/2015/05/egyptian-cleric-is-okay-with-atheists.html

[SusanCalvin]

1. "that we, unfortunately, heard."

Stop it, you're burnin' mah virgin ears!

(I can still hear a childhood friend saying that, in a Scarlett O'Hara accent.)

[Tobin S.]

4. Welcome to the group, Susan.

I like your avatar.

[SusanCalvin]

8. Thanks - see below. nt

[cdogzilla]

2. Khaled al-Gindhi doesn't understand DNA, or even his own country.

Egyptians are not "a people of believers," there are (incredibly brave) non-believers and secularists in Egypt, of course. He's an example of why it's often the case you can substitute "repressive" for "believing" to get at what believers who think there's no place for non-believers in a society are really proud of.

[Tobin S.]

5. Welcome to DU!

And welcome to the group.

[SusanCalvin]

7. Thanks for the welcome!

Happy to be here.

Oops, wrong welcome - oh well.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. This takes NIMBY to a whole new level. nt

[RussBLib]

6. I guess Khaled isn't too thrilled with Donia Massoud

among others. What a prick.

Donia is sporting a new tattoo.

Another article that I cannot find now tried to insist Donia wasn't expressing atheism. After all, "My heart's feud is with God" suggests she believes in God too, just isn't too happy with his ... choices? Right?

Proclaim you're an atheist in Egypt and you could get years in prison.

from the link above:

Earlier this year, a 21-year-old student who declared his atheism on Facebook was arrested by Egyptian authorities. The student, Karim Ashraf Mohammed Al-Banna, was sentenced to three years in prison.

[onager]

9. Al-Banna?

Interesting name. Hassan Al-Banna was the founder of the original Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, in 1928. He was executed for trying to overthrow the Nasser regime in the 1950s.

But his youngest brother, Gamel Al-Banna, was a famous Egyptian liberal, trade-unionist, and lifelong advocate for separation of mosque and state. He died in January 2013, aged 93.

Gamel had some fascinating ideas about Islam. From his Wikipedia entry:

Gamal al-Banna was a strict egalitarian: Islam gives women and men the same rights and duties, and a good Muslim regards all human beings as equal, no matter what their religion is. As for the role of women in Islam, al-Banna claimed to see no reason why a Muslim woman could not take over the role of imam (female: imama, i.e. leader) in the prayer salat.