The contradiction in Mr. Sisi\u2019s aim of keeping the heterosexual, conservative Muslim man at the top of Egypt\u2019s moral hierarchy is glaring. You can\u2019t trump the Islamists in their piety and lead a campaign against minorities like atheists and gay men even as you condemn extremist violence and show solidarity for free speech and free thinking.<\/p>\n
This week we mark the fourth anniversary of the 2011 revolution. Although it has not delivered the political freedoms it called for, it did begin an unraveling of authority that has left Egypt\u2019s self-appointed moral guardians disconcerted and scrambling. Armed with social media, more people are insisting on asking and telling \u201d\u201d about personal belief and sexual identity. A reckoning is long overdue in a country where religion and morality have so often been bent to suit the political expedients of its rulers.<\/p>\n
Despite the clampdown, atheists are openly challenging such hypocrisy. Social media has allowed those who \u201cdeviate\u201d\u009d from the authoritarian template to find one another and express themselves in ways that the regime, its men of religion and its media otherwise deny them. A religious revolution has begun, but not on Mr. Sisi\u2019s or the clerics\u2019 terms. We all stand to gain if fathers no longer testify against sons, and families no longer feel the need to prove their loved ones are \u201creal men.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n