Does Secularism Have a Role in Egyptian Struggle?
With Egypt’s presidential election a few weeks away, former Field Marshal Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi seems all…
Read More
Is a Secular System Right for Egypt?
The current battle, contrary to much coverage, isn’t between Islamist and secular forces.
Read More
Bangladesh’s Atheist Blogger Still Wants to Talk
“I hope some day I’ll start my blogging again and can speak proudly about my thoughts, my belief or nonbelief, my thoughts about everything like religion, politics and philosophy. And that will only be possible in a truly secular Bangladesh—freedom of speech, equal rights for everyone. I know we have to suffer a lot for this dream. But we have to fight for it.”
Read More
Why is the State Department Opening an Office of “Religious Engagement”?
In her 1969 essay “On Violence,” Hannah Arendt described bureaucracy as government by an intricate system in which no one person can be held responsible, the “rule by Nobody.” Atheism, then, would be the view that it’s bureaucracy all the way up. Now a…
Read More
New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers
Almost half of the world’s countries have laws or policies that penalize blasphemy, apostasy, contempt of religion, or religious “hate speech.”
Read More
An Open Letter to CEO Jeff Smisek On United Airlines’ Blasphemous Safety Video
Please, for the love of the primordial, preliterate covenant of sound: leave George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” alone.
Read More
‘Religious Freedom’ for Atheists
A state that attempts to use the force of law to stop blasphemy must select certain identities for protection to the exclusion of others.
Read More
There is No Religious Freedom: A Lesson from a ‘Pastafarian’ Stunt
The religious are free, but not because they enjoy religious freedom. They are free insofar as all are free. In a liberal society, we all inhabit an equal space of personal and associative liberty in which to worship, blaspheme, or just fix our suppers.
Read More
United Nations Affirms the Human Right to Blaspheme
The message of General Comment No. 34 is not only a clear condemnation of the blasphemy laws of countries such as Pakistan, which despite having ratified the ICCPR in 2008, continues to impose the death sentence for blasphemy and “defiling” the name of Prophet Muhammad. The Comment equally repudiates the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has upheld Austrian, British, and Turkish laws against blasphemy and religious insult by invoking a sui generis right to “respect for the religious feelings of believers.”
Read More
The Heresies of Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens cannot be accused of being a name-dropper. The names come positively flinging off the pages of his newly-released memoir, Hitch-22, but can he be blamed for befriending some of the most interesting and influential figures of his time, like Salman Rushdie, Edward…
Read More