Irreligion in Egypt
Irreligion in Egypt is controversial due to the largely conservative nature of the country and the religious establishments in the country. It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists or agnostics in Egypt, as the stigma attached to being one makes it hard for irreligious Egyptians to publicly profess their views and beliefs. Furthermore, public statements that can be deemed critical of Islam or Christianity can be tried under the country's notorious blasphemy law. Outspoken atheists, like Alber Saber, have been convicted under this law. These types of crime in Egypt hold a status similar  to "Antragsdelikt", legal proceedings only occur if a citizen takes the step of suing the person engaging in blasphemy, and cases are not initiated by the general prosecutor. In 2000, an openly atheist Egyptian writer, who called for the establishment of a local association for atheists, was tried on charges of insulting Islam in four of his books. Estimates of the number of non-religious Egyptians. The 2017 US report on international religious freedom, concerning Egypt, states that anecdotal estimates report between 1 million and 10 million atheists in Egypt, of Egypt's 97 million population at that time (2017  estimate). Absent official figures, sources consistently report that the number is increasing steadily. An Egyptian former minister stated that there are millions of atheists in Egypt. An Egyptian newspaper Al-Sabah claimed the number of Egyptian atheists is 3 million of Egypt's 84 million population (2013 estimate), citing an unnamed US survey. In December 2014 Dar al-Ifta, a government-affiliated Islamic centre of education and jurisprudence, claimed that there are 866 atheists in Egypt. Commenting on the small number cited by Dar al-Ifta, Rabab Kamal, a spokesperson for The Secularists, a small but vocal group that lobbies  for a secular state, said that "[Dar al-Ifta] are in denial", and she added: "I could count more than that number of atheists at al-Azhar university alone." (Al-Azhar university is the Cairo-based Islamic institution that is widely regarded as the seat of global Sunni learning.) The tiny estimates by Dar al-Ifta prompted high amusement among Egyptian atheists and secularists in Egypt, who say that atheism is on the rise, and that even Dar al-Ifta's definitions of atheism seemed comic. A study at the university of Kent states that the number of Egyptians, particularly  under age 30, identifying as irreligious in 2013 has risen to approximately 11% of the Egyptian population. The study states that there is reportedly a tremendous increase in the amount of nonbelievers and atheists, and that there is noticeably an increase in the number of Egyptian youth coming out for nonbelieving and publicly testifying they have left the faith. Many Egyptian irreligious/atheist intellectuals encourage irreligious Egyptians and Egyptian atheists to speak up and come out of the closet, a trend which is visible regarding both faiths, Islam and Christianity, and involves Egyptian men as well as Egyptian women. Many  atheists in Egypt communicate with each other over the internet. Controversy and discrimination. Discrimination against atheists in Egypt is mainly the result of conservative social traditions and the religious establishments in the country, as the laws and policies in Egypt protect religious freedom but punish those who ridicule or insult the Abrahamic religions by words or writing, whereas insulting other faiths like Buddhism or Hinduism is not punishable by Egyptian law but insulting Islam, Christianity, or Judaism is. In 2014 the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Awqaf announced a joint strategy to combat the spread of what they  categorized as "harmful ideas" among the nation's youth, and they included atheism in that categorization. In a 2011 Pew Research poll of 1,798 Muslims in Egypt, 63% of those surveyed supported "the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion." However, no such punishment actually exists in the country. In January 2018 the head of the parliament's religious committee, Amr Hamroush, suggested a bill to make atheism illegal, stating that "it [atheism] must be criminalised and categorised as contempt of religion because atheists have no doctrine and try to insult the Abrahamic religions". In July 2015, it  was announced by Pope Tawadros II that a global survey to understand why some youth leave the church would be carried out. The results were not published, however, it was estimated that 70% of the youth stop attending the Evangelical church, and nearly a decade later, about half return to church. The Egyptian Council of Churches, of which the Coptic Orthodox Church is a member, along with other Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Egyptian churches, had plans to confront atheism in Egypt, by questioning Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and planning establishments of interfaith committees involving churches and mosques, with  the aim of controlling and confronting atheism among members of both faiths. Atheists or irreligious people cannot change their official religious status, thus statistically they are counted as followers of the religion of their family, whether it is Islam or Christianity. Despite hostile sentiments towards them, atheists in Egypt have become increasingly vocal since the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and particularly after the ouster of Morsi in 2013.