Meet The Middle East’s Atheist Preacher

[cbayer]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/28/meet-the-middle-east-s-atheist-preacher.html



Nancy A. Youssef

NO MONSTERS 06.28.156:45 AM ET

In a region increasingly defined by its Islamic fundamentalism, Ismail Mohammed is vocal about his belief that there is no God. And he’s discovering that he’s not alone.

Ismail Mohammed is a YouTube preacher who’s trying to turn Middle Easterners into believers–in atheism.

Mohammed, 30, left Islam three years ago but he has become evangelical about his new faith. He created his YouTube channel, Black Ducks, in his Cairo home with no more than a computer, speakers and a simple 8 ½ by 11 piece of paper displaying the show’s logo. For an hour, Muslims across the region spend an hour with Mohammed describing why they left Islam and how the navigate a region where religion is seeped in every pore.

The videos’ production levels are shoddy but the implications are revolutionary in a region in which some countries, like Saudi Arabia, consider atheism a form of terrorism. Many believe leaving Islam should be met with death. Questioning faith, for some, is a form of insulting faith.

“There are people who believe I left Islam so I must be killed. But maybe if more and more atheists speak up, there will be less pressure and threats,” Mohammed told The Daily Beast.

more at link

[MADem]

1. I fear for him.

While in the US we have some nuts who talk about blaspheming, etc., he lives in a region where people really ARE put to death by local religious leaders on sometimes nothing more than a whim.

During the recent troubles in Egypt, Coptic churches got burnt and Shi'as were killed.

Some people can get crazy if others don't agree with them.

[cbayer]

2. Agree, he is taking a serious risk here and I wish for him to be safe.

He might make a difference but could be martyred in the process.

[MADem]

3. I have an old friend, from Morrocco, with the same name.

Made me think of him and wonder how he's getting on....

[cbayer]

4. Morocco was on my list this summer….

but life got in the way.

I hope to get there in the future.