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

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

I like your avatar.

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.

And welcome to the group.

Happy to be here.

Oops, wrong welcome - oh well.

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.

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: