Shame on you believers!

Belief in religion, any religion, is based not on any rational arguments but on fear -- fear of the consequences of not believing, be it the fires of hell or something else. Not only is the believer afraid to voice any doubts about his religion, he is also upset when an unbeliever does it. And so it is not surprising that so many doubters are at the receiving end of attacks from religious fanatics. The following are a few of the cases that have happened or are happening right now.

1: Alber Saber, Egypt.

Alber Saber, a 27-year-old atheist activist, a blogger, and an administrator of the Egyptian Atheists Facebook page, was arrested after a mob swarmed outside his home demanding his arrest for insulting religion. Saber was then attacked in prison, after a guard told the other prisoners what he had been charged with. On December 12 of this year, he was convicted of blasphemy, and sentenced to three years in prison.

2: Alexander Aan, Indonesia.

In January 2012 this civil servant was attacked by a mob after he criticized Islam on Facebook, saying he'd left the religion and become an atheist. Following the attack, Aan was arrested for insulting religion. He is now serving two and a half years in prison.

3: Phillipos Loizos, Greece.

In September 2012, Phillipos Loizos was arrested in Evia, Greece, for creating a Facebook page making fun of Elder Paisios, the late Greek Orthodox monk revered by many as a prophet -- a page referring to Paisios as Pastistios, a Greek beef dish.

4: Sanal Edamaruku, India.

He is president of the Indian Rationalist Association. He embarrassed the Catholic Church on national television when he debunked a supposed "miracle" by proving that a weeping Jesus on the cross was actually the result of a leaky drain. A group called the Association of Concerned Catholics filed a complaint against Edamaruku with the Mumbai police who issued an arrest warrant, charging him with "hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community." Edamaruku fled the country and is now in Finland.

5: Fazil Say, Turkey.

If you are into classical music you might have heard of Fazil Say. He is also an atheist. On June 1, 2012, he was arrested and charged with insulting Islamic values on twitter He faces a year in prison, despite the fact that the Turkish Constitution protects freedom of religious belief, guarantees equal protection under the law regardless of religion, and lists secularism as one of the Turkish republic's fundamental characteristics.

6: Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji, Tunisia.

In March 2012 these two self-declared atheists were given prison sentences for posting cartoons of Muhammad on Facebook  Beji got the hell out of the country.  Mejri wasn't so lucky. He is currently in prison.

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. They don't include Mauritania, where leaving Islam means losing citizenship; Pakistan, where the government blocked all access to Twitter because of "blasphemous content"; Italy, where Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini called on Christians, Muslims and Jews to join together in the fight against the "threat" of atheism; Zambia, where the government requires Christian instruction in public schools; Poland, where pop musician Doda was fined $1,450 for saying that the Bible is full of "unbelievable tales"; Israel, where atheists or anyone else wanting a secular marriage have to leave the country to get married; the United States, where attendance at evangelical Christian events in the military is often mandatory; Sudan, where leaving Islam is punishable by death.