Here is an interesting article on the role religious groups played (or didn't play rather) in the Egyptian revolution. I've been following tele-Islamist Amr Khaled as he visited Tahrir Square at the height of the protests there and broke his silence on politics, something he clearly avoided in his television shows up till now. As this article shows, the revolution in Egypt has brought with it a new political culture in which religiously devout young Egyptians identified with religion differently, through the civic initiatives of Amr Khaled, and not through the loud religious slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood or other religious groups which by the way did everything they could to discredit the protesters in the beginning and even during the Tahrir square standoff. Some analysts have been warning that religion has been central in the Egyptian uprising. Just look, they say, at how bigger the crowds were on Fridays and the fact that the prominent Sheikh Qaradawi gave the sermon last Friday in the square during the massive celebration of the fall of Mubarak. It's becoming clearer that an Islamist political ideology has ceased to be a viable solution for this generation. It's been like this for a while now, but the revolution has clearly signaled a shift to an ideology-free political consciousness. Religion is not out of the picture. Far from it, it is still an important variable but it will manifest itself differently, in a way that nobody can predict at this point. One thing for sure, is that it's not surprising that the most significant religious manifestations during the uprising came from people like Amr Khaled, young Muslim Brothers who broke up with their aged leadership, and young Copts who also ignored their leaders' call not to participate in the protests.