“I think Egyptians just rose up and said we don’t like the direction Egypt is going in. It’s not because we don’t love Muslims – most of us are Muslims – but we don’t like the idea of an Islamist Egypt,” says Kate Seelye, senior vice president of the non-partisan Middle East Institute. More →

July 12, 2013

Watch more of our interview with Tony Blair, who says faith can provide strength and spiritual consolation, but “it can’t tell you the right answer. You’ve got to work that out, in a sense, on your own. It can’t determine your policy, because life’s not like that, I’m afraid.” More →

August 24, 2012

“We don’t want a religious state,” says Muslim Brotherhood member of parliament Ossama Yassin. “We want a modern, civil, democratic state belonging to the people.” More →

February 10, 2012

Egypt’s recent parliamentary elections have raised concerns about the imposition of an Islamist agenda by Islamist groups and parties, but Middle East expert Kate Seelye says “the hope is that once in office they will move more to the center and that won’t be the case.” More →

January 27, 2012

As Mideast turmoil spreads, a professor of international affairs says we are witnessing changing interpretations of religion and “a struggle over which interpretations have authority over whom.” More →

February 23, 2011

“If there is a new state, presumably there will more religious tolerance,” says Middle East author and analyst Geneive Abdo. “We can only hope so.” More →

February 11, 2011

“Many people are hoping there will be a more pluralistic government that will embrace the Christian Copts,” says Qamar-ul Huda, a senior program officer at the US Institute of Peace. More →

February 4, 2011