Russian TV: From the Christian West to the Islamic Middle East, atheists face discrimination and persecution including execution, life in prison, the revocation of citizenship and the denial of education and medical services, a new report has revealed.
A 69-page study titled ‘Freedom of Thought 2012: A Global Report on Discrimination Against Humanists, Atheists and the Nonreligious’ has been released by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).
The report covers laws affecting freedom of conscience in 60 countries, and lists numerous individual cases where atheists were persecuted for their beliefs.
The report cited discriminatory laws that deny atheists the “right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship [and] restrict their right to marry.”
Other laws include “obstructing access to public education, prohibiting them from holding public office, preventing them from working for the state, criminalizing their criticism of religion, and executing them for leaving the religion of their parents.”
Really!! Atheism a religion? How does this work; having no religion is also religious. Need to understand this…..
Naturally, most Atheists aren’t willing to admit that their philosophies and doctrine hold any relation to other religious beliefs, but consider the similarities.
Atheists are a theistic and devout sect of society who maintain their own principles regarding creation and religion. These fundamental beliefs are based on the concept that no God or Creator exists. Atheists can be just as fanatical about their dogma as a devout Christian, Islamic or Buddhist, etc. In fact, many Atheists celebrate rituals during the solstices.
Atheists, like other theologians, have their mentors and messiahs whom they hold in high esteem. Famous atheists like Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov or Richard Dawkins would certainly qualify as saviors to the unbelieving.
There is an organization called the First Church of Atheism where one can legally become an ordained minister with the ability to perform weddings, funerals and other related ministerial functions. Atheists even have their own Bible to pay homage to.
Also, under First Amendment rights, Atheism is a protected “religion.” In 1965, the Supreme Court removed God from the definition of religion, in United States v. Seeger.
In 1968, in Welsh v. United States, the Supreme Court considered the case of a conscientious objector who had initially refused to label his objection as “religious” as required under the new Military Service Act. In his written objection, he struck out the word “religious” and wrote that his beliefs had been formed by reading in the fields of history and sociology. Although he had first claimed that his beliefs were nonreligious, he later wrote in a letter to his appeal board that his beliefs were “certainly religious in the ethical sense of the word.” The Court again enlarged the scope of the statute, and held: “If an individual deeply and sincerely holds beliefs which are purely ethical or moral in source and content but that nevertheless impose upon him a duty of conscience to refrain from participating in any war at any time, those beliefs certainly occupy in the life of that individual ‘a place parallel to that filled by God’ in traditional religious persons.”
In 1961, in Torcaso v. Watkins, the Supreme Court described “secular humanism” as a religion, while ruling that the exception in this clause of the Maryland Constitution was unconstitutional: “No religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God.”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that Wisconsin prison officials violated an inmate’s rights because they did not treat atheism as a religion. “Atheism is [the inmate’s] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being,” the Seventh Circuit declared. The prison had refused to allow the inmate to create a study group for atheists.
Professor Brian Bocking holds degrees of Religious Studies and a PhD from the University of Leeds, UK, and is a former Professor of the Study of Religions at the University of London. In his inaugural lecture at the University College Cork, Professor Bocking explains why he believes Atheism is a form of religion. Listen to the clip from 24:26 – 26:57.
http://www.ucc.ie/en/studyofreligions/InauguralLecture-ProfBrianBocking/
As earthly beings, we might ask: Where does the power of order come from which coordinates three billion information bits in each cell of our body? Who controls the communication between the twenty trillion cells of the human organism? What powers the heart to beat over a billion times in the average lifespan? How can an infinite universe ever be fully formulated or charted when there is no beginning and no end? Many a renowned physicist confesses that only a cosmic intelligence, which he calls God, could have created this miracle.
I trust you have found this information helpful in understanding why many consider Atheism to be just another in a long list of worldly, religious convictions.
Vigilant Citizen, you’re a moron!
No, atheism is not a religion in the sense of Islam and Christianity. Most importantly it is not based on faith, ie it is not about one wants to be true but what we can rationally say is true. Plus, both Muslims and Christians, adopt a secular atheistic view when calling other religions untrue. Muslims don’t believe that the Hindu gods are true, atheists just look at all religions this way. But this article exposes the massive hypocrisy in the Islamic world. Oppression is bad, justice for all; except if you’re an atheist or gay and maybe if you’re Jewish, then we can dominate and discriminate against you all we want.