Sarfraz Manzoor seemed to spend a fair amount of Leaving the Faith (27 November) shuttling between two central London pubs. Each harboured the members of ex-Muslim support groups, one of which, the rather imposingly titled Council of Ex-Muslims of Great Britain, was deep in preparations for a comedy night. Did comedy and apostasy really go together, Manzoor enquired of one of the members. “I’m actually feeling a little bit of a backlash.” she admitted.The central question hanging over Manzoor’s exceptionally sympathetic investigation was why ex-Muslims needed a support group when ex-Christians and ex-Buddhists seemed to get along just fine. The answer could immediately be glimpsed in a set of religious-cum-cultural fiats whose exist­ence meant that the apostate