I'm sure of it. Abdus Salam (Nobel Prize for Physics, 1979, died 1996) found this during his stay in Egypt, where he attempted, unsuccessfully, to raise the status of science in universities.

What, exactly, is the basis of the fear? Is it the threat of political and social destabilisation? Political religion is a powerful tool for social manipulation even in Thailand, where I think it has little to do with dogma - but that's another story.

"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler