New movement against religious fanaticism
The Egyptian Gazette

29 September 09
Amr Emam
Staff reporter

A group of liberal activists said yesterday they were preparing to launch a new movement to fight what they called “religious fanaticism” both inside and outside Egypt. The activists, led by Egypt’s controversial feminist and noted writer Nawal Saadawi, said the new movement would seek to clarify ordinary people about the importance of separating religion from their life so that they would be able to judge things freely without any fetters. “People need to keep religion away from politics, education, and everything else,” Saadawi said. “Religion can’t get entangled with everything in our life,” she told The Gazette over the phone.

 

Saadawi’s colleagues in the new movement include journalists, university professors, and activists. They say religious fanaticism can bring about crises to a world already beset by more than its fill of suffering.

The members of the new movement, which is called Tadamon (Solidarity) will ask the Egyptian Government to abolish an article in the constitution, saying that Islam is Egypt’s state religion. They will lobby for abolishing the space specified for religion in identification cards. They will also write articles in the newspapers, hold lectures and public debates to show the importance of steering away from religion in day-to-day activities.

Saadawi herself has seen the dangers of religious fanaticism in her numerous travels. In the US, she saw thousands of people who pray for the rain to fall. In Iran and Afghanistan, she saw women being denied their freedoms in the name of religion.
Her next article, which will appear in the independent daily al-Masri al-Youm, will focus on the need for people to respect their work, honour their commitments to others, and be honest regardless of which religion they follow. “God is one’s own conscience,” she said. “It’s better to be honest because you like to be honest, not just for fear of going to hell,” she added.