Atheists Face Persecution Worldwide, Report Says

[Prismatic567]

http://www.newsweek.com/atheists-face-persecution-worldwide-report-says-290649

GENEVA (Reuters) - Amid a global decline in religious belief, some governments are stepping up efforts to portray atheists and secularists as a danger to society and even as terrorists, according to a report issued on Wednesday.

The study, by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), pointed to “hate campaigns” launched by public figures against those who renounce the dominant or state religion in Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Egypt.

Persecution by who?
By theists.

The fact is, theism is grounded on a transcendental illusion manifested from a psychological psychosis, i.e. falsehoods and they have the guile to persecute non-theists.

The above and the various range of terrors and evils committed by theists around the world, leveraged on a falsehood, are good reasons why the facts and truths must be told.
Basically, theism is a critically necessary white lie for the majority to deal with an inherent existential dilemma but they cannot translate that into a right [in some places enacted as laws] to persecute or kill non-theists.

[James_S_Saint]

[size=200]EMERGENCY CALL TO ARMS!!![/size]
“We must ban together and attack all theists because there is suspicion that theists are attacking all atheists!!!”

…and Germans against Jews…
…and Jews against Gentiles…
…and black against whites…
…and women and men…
…and constitutionalists against socialists…
…and socialist against communists…
.
.
.
Just remember; The OTHER guy is the BAD, INSANE, MALICIOUS guy.
We are the GOOD, SANE, ALTRUISTIC guys.

And why?
Just follow the money, Honey.

[Mowk]

Define persecution, man, if that ain’t a loaded word.

Human trafficking.

Geez get a ‘real’ cause.

[LaughingMan]

The report is accurate. In some places of the world being an atheist is a death sentence.

[James_S_Saint]

@LaughingMan

The report is accurate. In some places of the world being an atheist is a death sentence.

In some places in the world being an American is a death sentence.
In some places in the world being a Christian is a death sentence.
In some places in the world being a Muslim is a death sentence.

The world itself is a death sentence - “Let’s go kill everyone who doesn’t like us.”

[zinnat]

@LaughingMan

The report is accurate. In some places of the world being an atheist is a death sentence.

Can you enlighten us that in which country being an atheist is a death sentence by law!
That would be a reveleation, at least to me and perhaps for some others too.

But, please check your facts carefully before making any declaration.

with love,
sanjay

[phyllo]

It’s safer to be an atheist than it is to be a Christian.

Most people in the West would be surprised by the answer to the question: who are the most persecuted people in the world? According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular group with members in 38 states worldwide, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.

The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 100,000 Christians now die every year, targeted because of their faith – that is 11 every hour. The Pew Research Center says that hostility to religion reached a new high in 2012, when Christians faced some form of discrimination in 139 countries, almost three-quarters of the world’s nations.

independent.co.uk/voices/com … 30774.html

[statiktech]

First result with a simple Google search - There Are 13 Countries Where Atheism Is Punishable by Death.

While I don’t doubt that LaughingMan made the assertion without an ounce of research, his claim seems to hold. Now, that article is a year old, so perhaps some of those countries have reformed their policies by now. I doubt that’s the case though.

I think this thread is more about thoughtcrime than anything, and I fail to see how that isn’t worth discussion. Pointing out that other groups are persecuted in other places doesn’t justify any one instance of persecution, nor does it suggest that the topic isn’t worth discussion. This thread happens to be about one particular group. If you want to talk about others, make a thread for it.

[phyllo]

I got a laugh out of that ‘comprehensive report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union’.

The USA gets a rating of ‘Mostly Satisfactory’ and Canada gets a rating of ‘Systemic Discrimination’.

[statiktech]

@phyllo

I got a laugh out of that ‘comprehensive report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union’.

The USA gets a rating of ‘Mostly Satisfactory’ and Canada gets a rating of ‘Systemic Discrimination’.

@"[url=http://www.canadianatheist.com/the-2014-freedom-of-thought-report/

http://www.canadianatheist.com/the-2014-freedom-of-thought-report/[/url]"]The real sore point for most Canadians was that the US actually scored better than we did: they got “Mostly Satisfactory”. People objected because the US is way more God-besotted than Canada – an atheist can’t even manage to get elected to any major office there, while here we’ve even had an openly-atheist Leader of the Opposition (albeit briefly). But that is based on a misunderstanding of what the report is looking at.

The report is actually not particularly concerned with cultural discrimination, but rather with systemic discrimination: discrimination in and by the system – ie, the government, the laws, the judicial system, and the representatives thereof.

[phyllo]

The report is actually not particularly concerned with cultural discrimination, but rather with systemic discrimination: discrimination in and by the system – ie, the government, the laws, the judicial system, and the representatives thereof.

There is religious language in old documents. There are laws on the books which are not enforced. There are Catholic schools which were guaranteed at the time of Confederation - which anyone can attend.

The people who wrote the report, do not understand the culture nor the system.

[statiktech]

@phyllo

The report is actually not particularly concerned with cultural discrimination, but rather with systemic discrimination: discrimination in and by the system – ie, the government, the laws, the judicial system, and the representatives thereof.

There is religious language in old documents. There are laws on the books which are not enforced. There are Catholic schools which were guaranteed at the time of Confederation - which anyone can attend.

The people who wrote the report, do not understand the culture nor the system.

Maybe you should write the next one then.

[phyllo]

Maybe you should write the next one then.

Perhaps I could clear up some errors with respect to Canada but how many errors would I introduce because I would be an outsider passing judgement on other countries.

The basic problem is that this report makes a very superficial evaluation based on texts.

[statiktech]

I think the problem is that the report is not about what you want it to be about. Maybe it’s relatively superficial, I honestly don’t know. I’m just suggesting that perhaps your derision is based on a misunderstanding of what the report was looking at.

This is from the same article, written by a Canadian mind you.

The US, as we all know, is extremely religious, and life on the street for nonbelievers can be quite miserable… but their laws are actually fantastically secular, generally speaking. They have the Establishment Clause – an explicit rule about keeping state and religion separate… meanwhile our head of state is literally entitled “Defender of the Faith”, and the position is not open to Roman Catholics. While all of our national symbols are steeped in religious references, the only official mentions of religion in US symbols are the “under God” in the Pledge and the “In God we Trust” in their Motto – both of which were only added in the 1950s and both of which are hotly contested by nonbelievers and only protected by the religious fascists on their Supreme Court. (There is also a line about “in God we trust” in their anthem, but it’s in like the third or fourth verse that no-one knows. The bit about being “endowed by their Creator” with rights is not in their Constitution, as many people mistakenly believe, but rather in the Declaration of Independence.) Notwithstanding that their Supreme Court occasionally blatantly ignores their Constitutional rights and offers absurd arguments to defend religion (like that the “in God we trust” is not actually religious), the reality is that the American justice system almost always leans in favour of secular rights and freedoms. Their culture is highly discriminatory toward nonbelievers, but their system is very secular. Thus, they score “Mostly Satisfactory”.

Contrast that to Canada, which has religious fingerprints over everything, including our Constitution, and anthem, at every level of government (such as Newfoundland and Labrador’s motto and anthem). Yes, culturally Canada is a lot less religious than the US, but the actual system itself is explicitly religious – and actually favours specific religions. Even that, though, would still only earn Canada the same score as the US. What pushes us over the edge is that the special privileges given to religious schools include the right to discriminate – against both students and teachers – in ways that are otherwise illegal, and to do so while being financially supported by the state.

So that’s why we scored so badly – “Systemic Discrimination” – in 2013.

[zinnat]

@statiktech

First result with a simple Google search - There Are 13 Countries Where Atheism Is Punishable by Death.

While I don’t doubt that LaughingMan made the assertion without an ounce of research, his claim seems to hold. Now, that article is a year old, so perhaps some of those countries have reformed their policies by now. I doubt that’s the case though.

That is precisely the problem with the most of the people that they just want to believe what they want to believe. Instead of evidence or reasoning, all they need is just a litle excuse to believe.

Like you, LM’s claim is also based on the same search result. But, neither of you tried to verify whether that group was saying the truth or all that is merely a propaganda.

After reading the LM post, i did the same as you did; tried to google and also got the same search result. But, that seems unreasonable to me. So, i decided to check the wiki pages of all those mentioned countries.

And, the truth is that no country from that list is such who has been declared that atheists or other religion’s people either should leave or face death penalty. The proof of this is that all those countries have living religious minorities right now, no matter what their numbers may be.

That is enough to proof that no country in this world give death penalties for having either other religious faiths or atheism.

You can verify what i am saying.

with love,
sanjay

[phyllo]

I think the problem is that the report is not about what you want it to be about.

I want it to be a true reflection of the level of discrimination in a country.

Canadians pledge allegiance to the Queen. What does it mean in 2014? Practically nothing.

Anyone can attend Catholic school. The Supreme Court has even ruled that nobody in a Catholic school is required to participate in religious classes or events. It’s Catholic in name only.

Whatever. Free thinkers and atheist will feel outraged at the level of discrimination.

[statiktech]

@zinnat13

@statiktech

First result with a simple Google search - There Are 13 Countries Where Atheism Is Punishable by Death.

While I don’t doubt that LaughingMan made the assertion without an ounce of research, his claim seems to hold. Now, that article is a year old, so perhaps some of those countries have reformed their policies by now. I doubt that’s the case though.

That is precisely the problem with the most of the people that they just want to believe what they want to believe. Instead of evidence or reasoning, all they need is just a litle excuse to believe.

Like you, LM’s claim is also based on the same search result. But, neither of you tried to verify whether that group was saying the truth or all that is merely a propaganda.

After reading the LM post, i did the same as you did; tried to google and also got the same search result. But, that seems unreasonable to me. So, i decided to check the wiki pages of all those mentioned countries.

And, the truth is that no country from that list is such who has been declared that atheists or other religion’s people either should leave or face death penalty. The proof of this is that all those countries have living religious minorities right now, no matter what their numbers may be.

That is enough to proof that no country in this world give death penalties for having either other religious faiths or atheism.

You can verify what i am saying.

with love,
sanjay

So, then, I am to assume all of those Wiki pages provided comprehensive lists of what acts are punishable by death? Nope, not a one. Try this page since you like Wiki so much - Discrimination Against Atheists. The fact that all of those countries have living minorities is because no means of law enforcement can possibly find and eliminate all instances of illegal activity, especially that which is strictly ideological and easily hidden. Not to mention that there may be parts of those countries where minorities are tolerated despite the law. Moreover, not all cases of illegal thoughtcrime will necessarily result in death; the point is that they can by law. So, in short, your premises are faulty and your “research” does not support your claims.

[Peter_Kropotkin]

The war on atheist is not so much about being sentenced to death as much as
such issues such as facing ridicule, being ejected from council meetings,
not getting elected to any public office in the US and the like.
what I find interesting is the fact the attack against atheist is driven by theist who profess to
believe in the bible. The same bible that says to love thy neighbor, preaches love, says all people
are children of god. Yah, that bible. In the US, (I cannot speak for other countries because I don’t live
in other countries) The so called war on Christians or Christmas simply doesn’t exist, but the war
on atheist goes on. I find this interesting because I read over 10% of Americans proclaim themselves
atheist. the percent who believe in god is like 90%, but, but that number is really just a believe in god,
not church going or allegiance to any specific god, but a general belief in god. The real number of Americans
who are church going is less than 50%. (go to a church on sunday or whatever day, and see for yourself)
Churches are a dying institution in America. (here I include Christian, jewish, Islamic, the big three)
So why the persecution of atheist by theist? I believe it stems from lack of faith and fear.
faith, true faith doesn’t need to attack others. It is faith anchored by a real and true faith in god.
true faith is a dialogue between one’s heart and god. It doesn’t need others. Fear arises because
the theist is actually afraid atheist is right and the theist having spent their lives living “morally”
according to god, what if the atheist is right and the theist has lived a lie. What if there is no god
and the atheist was right? That idea frighten an theist and drives them to attack atheist.
It is from lack of faith and fear that drive the theist to attack the atheists.
What if atheists are right?

Kropotkin

[phyllo]

That is enough to proof that no country in this world give [u]death penalties for having either other religious faiths or atheism.

Not true.

A Sudanese judge has sentenced a Christian woman to hang for apostasy, despite appeals by Western embassies for compassion and respect for religious freedom.

aljazeera.com/news/middleeas … 75754.html

The death penalty is rare in state courts. There are usually lesser penalties for apostasy. Of course, there are ‘vigilantes’ who do kill apostates.

[statiktech]

@phyllo

I think the problem is that the report is not about what you want it to be about.

I want it to be a true reflection of the level of discrimination in a country.

Canadians pledge allegiance to the Queen. What does it mean in 2014? Practically nothing.

Anyone can attend Catholic school. The Supreme Court has even ruled that nobody in a Catholic school is required to participate in religious classes or events. It’s Catholic in name only.

Whatever. Free thinkers and atheist will feel outraged at the level of discrimination.

I’d like the same, but that’s apparently cultural and not what the report was about. I’d love to see a comprehensive report on cultural discrimination. I feel outraged by the level of cultural discrimination here in US (especially where I live), but not Canada. I agree that the report seemed to include some religious relics of the respective countries, and that does probably tip the scales in some odd, and perhaps unfair, ways. Again, I’m not defending the report, I just think you’re talking about something different.