In the Middle East’s secularist regimes, the exclusion of religion from public life sowed discontent, as did the regulation of private religious activity. Defiance of secular mandates became increasingly common. In response, secularist leaders intensified the repression of groups opposed to reforms. But they also made concessions to politically tame groups that wanted to lead openly religious lives. The resurfacing of public religiosity induced adjustments in the public persona of secular elites themselves. Politicians, entertainers, and journalists started pandering to the pious by feigning religiosity. Reversing direction, religious preference falsification now exaggerated not genuine irreligiosity but, rather, genuine piety. Regimes that were once assertively secularist turned into religiously hybrid regimes drawing some legitimacy from Islam. This softening of secularism set the stage for regimes dedicated, in one form or another, to homogenizing society according to a religious blueprint. Under assertively Islamist regimes, longstanding Islamic instruments of repression have transformed religious freedoms, with some groups becoming freer and others less so. Secularists and heterodox believers have been among the losers. The breadth and severity of the ensuing religious repression hides diverse strands of discontent. Public religious discourses and performances disguise rising irreligiosity, deism, and atheism.