Atheism Is Punishable By Death In These 13 Countries

Atheists living in 13 countries risk being condemned to death, just for the beliefs (or non-belief) according to a new, comprehensive report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union out on Tuesday. All 13 countries identified by the study are Muslim majority.

The countries that impose these penalties are Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. With the exception of Pakistan, those countries all allow for capital punishment against apostasy, i.e., the renunciation of a particular religion. Pakistan, meanwhile, imposes the death penalty for blasphemy, which can obviously include disbelief in God.



The study's interactive map gives a good, broad, overview of which countries punish apostasy and blasphemy by death (black), with prison time (red), or place legal restrictions on (non-)religious speech and thought (yellow):

The report is a more comprehensive version of a similar study released last year that identified just seven countries where atheists faced capital punishment, only half of this year's total. It also found much more widespread discrimination against atheists around the world. "Our results show that the overwhelming majority of countries fail to respect the rights of atheists and freethinkers," the study explains, noting that laws in some countries prevent atheists from marrying, attending public school, participating as a citizen, holding public office, or just existing at all. The authors, citing a Gallup study, estimate that about 13 percent of the world's population is atheist, while 23 percent identify as simply "not religious."

Although not on the list of 13, Bangladesh receives some special attention in the report as a particular low-light. Several non-religious and atheist bloggers and journalists in the country have faced death threats and harassment this year in the wake of a series of government prosecutions for blasphemy. One blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, was murdered with a machete outside of his home. The report also incorporates assessment of general free speech protections in each country. Russia earned significant criticism in part because of its anti-LGBT "propaganda" laws. And North Korea, an aggressively secular state, received the report's lowest rating of "Grave Violations."

Because of the U.S.'s strong constitutional free speech protections and lack of an official state religion, the country fared moderately well in the report, earning a "mostly satisfactory" rating. But the IHEU had some cautionary notes on how atheists are actually treated in the U.S., criticizing "a range of laws that limit the role of atheists in regards to public duties, or else entangle the government with religion to the degree that being religious is equated with being an American, and vice versa." Those laws include constitutional provisions still on the books in seven states (Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) barring atheists from holding public office. The authors add:

While there is some legal remedy for clear religious discrimination by the government, it can often go unchallenged in situations where it is difficult, or personally disadvantageous or hazardous, to take a stand against authority, for example in prisons, the military, and even some administrative contexts.
So, which countries earned a somewhat elusive "free and equal" rating from the IHEU? The best-ranked countries included Jamaica, Uruguay, Japan, Taiwan, and Belgium.


http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/12/13-countries-where-atheism-punishable-death/355961/

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So let me get this straight: There is one religious ideology as the common theme in the 13 countries which punish not believing in what they want to force everyone to believe in by death - but if someone criticizes said religious ideology, one is "intolerant", a "bigot", an "Islamophobe".

The reality is that if you oppose religious intolerance...you are an "intolerantophobe", and in favor of freedom. That's my position.

Those who defend this kind of stuff and, like Pavlov's dog, try to shout down anyone who criticizes these things - they are idiots, because they don't realize that opposing intolerance - in an ideology, as long as that does not lead to unfair hostility towards people - is not intolerance.

 

The alliance between leftists and Islamists is puzzling. The gullible leftists don't even understand what they are doing.

 

Just wanted to point out that that wasn't me .

 

Maybe you should ask this man?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7833621.stm

Somali executed for 'apostasy'

Abdirahman Ahmed was a prominent politician in Kismayo
An Islamist militia has executed a Somali politician who they accused of betraying his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.
An Islamist spokesman in the port of Kismayo told the BBC that Abdirahman Ahmed was shot dead on Thursday.

Or this one:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/uk-iran-execution-apostasy-idUKTRE70U41D20110131

Iran hangs man convicted of apostasy

(Reuters) - An Iranian man who attracted several disciples after claiming to be God was hanged for apostasy in the southwest of the country, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

Apostasy, murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, in practice since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Or this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Mohammed_Taha

On Jan 5, 1985 Taha was arrested for distributing pamphlets calling for an end to Shari'a law in Sudan. Brought to trial on January 7 he refused to participate. The trial lasted 2 hours with the main evidence being confessions that the defendants were opposed to Sudan's interpretation of Islamic law.[3] The next day he was sentenced to death along with 4 other followers (who later recanted and were pardoned) for "heresy, opposing application of Islamic law, disturbing public security, provoking opposition against the government, and reestablishing a banned political party."[4] The government forbade his unorthodox views on Islam to be discussed in public because it would "create religious turmoil" or fitnah (sedition). A special court of appeal approved the sentence on January 15. Two days later president Nimeiry directed the execution for January 18. Despite the smallness of his group thousands of demonstrators protested his execution and police on horseback used bullwhips to drive back the crowd.[3] The body was secretly buried.[5]

 

The guy never went to jail or anything. I think that statute is a relict, ridiculous and should be abolished, and I believe that it has never been applied since that stupid case. But in any case, the threat of the death penalty is a totally different animal, and you trying to relativize that is just typical.

You also fail to take into account that that (stupid) law in Germany protects any religion, whereas the laws in these 13 countries only "protect" Islam and sanction believing in anything else with the death penalty.

 

...also with the part that it's typical? :grin:

Well, Germany still has that idiotic law, so they are technically correct, not silly.

And the article doesn't really stretch any definition. Yeah, most of the time you will not get executed for being an atheist in these 13 countries, as long as you do not openly oppose Islam, but the fact of the matter is that these laws are designed to intimidate people, and these laws - by the reasoning of those who passed them - have their roots in the religious ideology itself.

To me, that is another one of many data points why one should question - and oppose - political Islam, and why opposing it does not make one an intolerant bigot, but the contrary is true.