Every day around the world atheists are discriminated against in overt and covert ways. Even in countries that have legal protections for the religious and non-religious alike, these protections are often undermined by a social and political atmosphere in which the non-religious are made to feel like lesser citizens. It is unfair, unnecessary and too often ends in tragedy.
But worse than this, many countries have legislation that discriminates against atheists and criminalizes atheism. In several countries, the discovery by family or friends that you do not believe God exists can bring the wrath of the state upon you. The consequences can be dire. Atheists may lose their employment, their education, their children, their liberty and their life. They can be denied their right to own property, their right of inheritance, and can be subjected to merciless physical violence.
In some countries, the treatment of atheists is reminiscent of the treatment of heretics 1,000 years ago during the Medieval Inquisitions. Atheists may not have to endure the grisly tortures of the Inquisition or be burned alive but they may be brutally lashed, incarcerated and even beheaded in some parts of the world.
During the past 70 years, the United Nations has emerged as the custodian of the world’s conscience. It has articulated rights to be conferred on all human beings and has encouraged and cajoled states to adopt and respect them. Its first effort, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Of the 58 members of the UN at the time, 48 voted in favor of the resolution and 10 abstained or did not vote.
The UDHR sets out basic human rights and freedoms but it is not legally binding on any state. Article 18 confers religious freedoms:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
It should be noted that this article explicitly confers freedom to practice a religion of choice but does not explicitly grant the freedom to have no religion.
Further progress was made in 1966 when the UN General Assembly adopted The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR is a multilateral treaty that builds upon the UDHR and, importantly, makes protecting the rights and freedoms granted by the treaty a legal obligation on states who ratified it.
On freedom of religion, the ICCPR uses similar wording to the UDHR. Article 18 states:
“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching.
No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice…”
Like the UDHR, the ICCPR confers no explicit freedom to have no religion.
With 171 states ratifying the ICCPR, it was an important step toward the recognition and protection of human rights. However, some states demanded “reservations” to exclude certain rights. For example, some Islamic states reserved the right to interpret the treaty within the context of Shariah Law. Pakistan made several reservations including, “the provisions of Articles 3, 6, 7, 18 and 19 shall be so applied to the extent that they are not repugnant to the Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and the Sharia laws.”
Twenty states are not signatories to the ICCPR at all. These include Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, the UAE and Vatican City.
A final Declaration that is relevant is the 1981 Declaration of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Unfortunately, this declaration did nothing to change the status quo for atheists as it used almost identical wording to Article 18 of the UDHR.
So, despite tremendous progress in codifying human rights over the past 70 years, the plight of atheists has been overlooked—not one declaration or treaty explicitly protects the right to have no religion. Indeed, the UN Human Rights Committee recognized this omission and in 1993 published General Comment 22 clarifying the scope of freedom of religion in the ICCPR to include “the right to replace one’s current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views.”
Unfortunately, the committee’s attempt to include protection for atheists seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
In Bangladesh at least 5 atheist bloggers were murdered by machete for crimes of blasphemy.
Raif Badawi
Yes…Atheists need this protection.