But matters are not restricted to America or Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia
has decided that the “crime” of being an atheist is so grave, that—no joke—atheism has been officially declared a terrorism offense. Meanwhile, free-thinking blogger and Nobel Prize nominee Raif Badawi
has been accused of atheism and sentenced to 10 years in prison with
1,000 lashes, 50 of which have been executed. To put the boot in, the
Saudis decided to convict his lawyer, too, my friend the liberal Muslim Walid Abulkhair.
And Egyptian atheists have it bad too, whether before or after the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood government there in the summer of 2013.
,,,
So beleaguered is this minority that you can be put to death for atheism in no less than 13 countries
around the world today. In 39 countries the law mandates a prison
sentence for blasphemy, and six of these are Western countries. Iceland
maintains a jail sentence for up to three months; in Denmark it is up to
four months; in New Zealand it stretches to up to a year; in Poland up
to two years; and in Germany and Greece it is up to three years. Some of
you may get through this article and still not feel that those who
dissent from the religious identity of their birth are among the most
discriminated against in most countries of the world today. But that would only prove my point.
Let
there be no mistake. There is a bloody war being waged on atheism. And
it is time for us all—especially we liberals and Muslims—to show some of
that solidarity we rightly expect from others.
,,,
One initiative among others stands out as an attempt to provide the sort
of direct support that these modern-day children of Galileo require. Movements.org
is a platform that represents a fundamental shift in how human rights
work is done today. The old human rights model of writing revelatory
reports, and lobbying governments to act on them, rested on the
assumption that information about abuse was simply not available. In
modern times, the Internet has ensured that the problem is not a lack of
information. The need of the day is to cultivate and connect activists
with the support and technical skills they need on the ground. By acting
as a platform through which dissenters can post their “needs” they can
reach supporters, such as lawyers or tech-experts, who may offer their
in-kind services. Movements.org, which works in partnership with The Daily Beast, represents a third way to undercut both dictators and Islamists by cultivating genuinely independent, free-thinking voices.
Stop the Jihadi Onslaught Against Atheists and Free Thinkers - The Daily Beast
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