Yesterday, I almost (be3d el sharr, w in shallah eli yekrahni) died from an overdose of religious programs. It was my day off, and because of a sand storm, I was stuck at home. The dust gave me red and teary eyes so reading was out of the question. In other words, I had no choice but to watch TV. Who is the evil person who suggested I spend my free time cooking dinner??? Listen, I don't appreciate jokes regarding such serious matters. My husband may actually believe that this is (be3d el sharr) a possibility, you know!!Back to my brush with death. Surfing a small number of official & private Egyptian TV channels, I must have stumbled into at least six different religious program in less than 90 minutes!!!! Moreover, during commercial breaks, those channels were showing ads of more religious programs that will be airing soon. This was just too much. I started suffering from all symptoms of a lethal overdose!! My husband saved my life (thank you habibi) by turning the TV off. (I think I saw a glimpse of regret in his eyes later in the day!! But I'll pretend I did not notice that.)
I do believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that this trend is very wrong & dangerous because:
- This dose cannot be explained by anything other than an attempt to brainwash and to create easily controlled zombies.
- This huge amount of airtime dedicated to religious programs is inevitably filled with rubbish that has nothing to do with Islam.
- Some guests can only qualify as exorcists and fortune tellers.
- The government is confusing us. It fights the Brotherhood and their ideology on one front, then its TV channels show loads of TV programs that support and promote their ideology!!!
- The privately owned channels are adding to the confusion. For example, Dream TV aired a lecture by Dr. Ahmed Zuwail promoting scientific & critical thinking on Wednesday, and then on Friday it aired a so called religious program hosting a so called sheikh who is an expert in exorcism!!!
- Most hosts & guests need an extreme makeover before ever showing their face on TV ever again.
- Most hosts & guests have invested their new fame and popularity in the gold mine of special cell phone numbers dedicated to answering stupid questions by stupid people, all under the wide umbrella of religion
- Current Azhar sheikhs and so called modern preachers have completely abandoned the progressive and respectful ideas and teachings of their predecessors (such as Mohammed Abdu, Rasheed, Shaltoot, Maraghee, Bakoori, and many more) and instead adopted the reactionary winds blowing from the east.
- A good percentage of Egyptians are non-Muslims (2albee ma3akom).
- Twenty plus years of this wave has produced nothing but a sick society with much much lower values and morality than what we had before this wave started.
- I said so
I am ready to take back every word I wrote, and to watch religious TV programs for a whole week if you can show me one person who became a better human after watching those programs. Let's reject and boycott this lethal dose, and let's concentrate on promoting:
- critical & scientific thinking
- social, educational, cultural, religious, and political reform
- love of Egypt, fellow Egyptians, & fellow humans
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