The Egyptian church leaders I know are generally patriotic and hopeful (we might say in spite of their experiences). I have never, however, come across such foreboding and fear amongst them as I have since the events that followed the dispersal of the protest camps. Their fears were perfectly justified. Around 50 churches were firebombed, the homes of priests and pastors were attacked, those to be targeted later were marked with a black cross, and even children were killed. Christians were told they had no place in Egyptian society, even though their presence there predates the arrival of Islam by several centuries. 

It has been put to me by those who live in the region that, in geopolitical terms, the West (and particularly the US) is now concentrating its energies on the BRICS and the Pacific Rim, leaving the Middle East to "moderate" Islamism. If this is so, events in Egypt have shown that "moderate" Islamism can very quickly reveal another side and, secondly, that freedom-loving sections of society will not always take such a "handing-over" lying down. 

This is also an appropriate moment to ask Islamists what they really believe about the place of women in society, about marriage and divorce law, female education and employment and a host of other matters having to do with the welfare of half the population of a country. Again, how do they see national integration, especially where non-Muslim religious communities are concerned? What is their view of common citizenship? Without such clarification, we could find ourselves back in a situation of virtual dhimma for non-Muslims. 

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the freedom to manifest, in public or privately, one's beliefs in teaching, practice, worship and observance and the right to change one's religion or belief. Such rights have been reaffirmed in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and by the UN's Human Rights Committee. It is interesting, in this connection, to note that the prominence of Article 18 in discussions about fundamental freedoms has repeatedly been challenged by Islamic countries and that an Article 18-like provision is entirely absent in equivalent Islamic declarations of human rights. Why is this and can we expect something different in the future? Such a question is important not only in the context of religious belief but also to guarantee freedom for artists, authors and journalists. Without such freedom, creativity will suffer, imagination will be dimmed and public discussion will ossify. If Article 18 is upheld, naturally, this will mean an end to treating apostasy from Islam as a crime. Punishments for blasphemy would have to cease and only those speeches or acts which incite violence or discrimination against an individual or a group would, as the ICCPR provides, be open to criminal prosecution. Even then, the penalty would have to be commensurate with the crime and not draconian as is the case now.