Posted on 10/30/2018 12:53:17 PM PDT by Simon Green
BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS and Taiwan are the best countries in the world to be an atheist, according to a new report.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) launched its seventh annual Freedom of Thought Report this morning.
For the first time, it contains a full ranking of every country in the world, according to its level of discrimination against atheists, humanists and the non-religious.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Taiwan came in joint first place as the best countries in the world to be an atheist.
Nauru, France, Japan and Sao Tomé and Príncipe came in joint fourth place.
Meanwhile, Ireland fell into the rankings in 115th place.
“In Ireland the non-religious are now the second largest group in society after Roman Catholics, but still face religious discrimination,” Jane Donnelly, human rights officer of Atheist Ireland said, commenting within the report.
“The Irish Constitution begins with ‘In the name of the Most Holy Trinity’ and Catholic social policy is reflected in many of our laws,” she said.
“In recent years, 10 different UN and Council of Europe reports have told Ireland that it is infringing on the human rights of atheists, agnostics and minority faith members.
"It is time for Ireland to realise that it must comply with its human rights obligations and ensure that all citizens have equal rights regardless of their religious or philosophical convictions. "
Looking at other end of the ranking, Saudi Arabia came in last place, being ranked the worst country in the world to be an atheist.
Iran, Afghanistan, the Maldives and Pakistan also followed at the bottom.
In the report, Saudi Arabia comes into criticism for a 2014 law defining the “promotion of atheist thought in any form” as terrorism, and for the prosecution of liberal activists and campaigners.
The report notes that the appearance of Malaysia and the Maldives in the bottom 10 rankings might surprise some.
However, it notes that both countries have seen “incidents of anti-atheist rhetoric” in the past few years.
Commenting on the report, president of the IHEU Andrew Copson said: “This is a world’s first. For the first time, our report will show, with authority and accuracy, the discrimination faced by people around the world because of their non-religious beliefs.
"This report paints a dark picture, with significant discrimination faced by our non-religious friends and colleagues around the world."
OK,atheists...explain Jupiter.I mean explain it from the *very* start.
I suspect it’s far safer to be an atheist in a Christian nation than it is to be a Christian in an atheist nation.
Belgium and the Netherlands are not really good countries for being an atheist because if you get old and sick they are likely to just put you out of your misery rather than spend any money treating you. They’ll hold you down and administer your exit.
America should be high on the list.
We are not a theocracy and I don’t want to be ranked with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
We all must do our best to help atheists see the light.
Coercion has no place here.
Many of those countries at the bottom, worst for atheist, are also strongly Muslim. Just an observation.
You don’t have to suspect.
History supports you on that very much.
One of the many reasons I’m solidly pro-Israel.
History indicates that religious people are much more discriminated against in officially atheist countries than vice versa. The history of the USSR and PRC attest to that fact.
“BEST-performing” = God-haters.
“WORST-performing” = ‘slimes.
How is an attitude toward God a “performance” of any kind?
You could have asked them to explain Uranus. But they'd just monkey around and offer guesses.
You could have asked them to explain Uranus. But they'd just monkey around and offer guesses.
Militant atheist are not free thinkers, they want freedom from any thoughts of God. I wasn’t that way when I was an atheist. I was honest with myself and others. So yes, if confronted by Christians I mocked them as naive believers in a fairytale.
On the other hand nothing at all mattered to me. I believed there wasn’t a God. I believed it to be cold, empty truth. I wanted nothing but truth no matter how vastly meaningless it was.
Though I believed Christians to be deluded, I thought that their delusion made them happy. Since there was nothing but the material universe, we had no souls, only a brief, meaningless existence as lifeless chemicals, accidentally compiled together with an electrical current of some kind, what possible difference did it make if some of us felt a fleeting comfort from imagining that their was some kind of God? What difference did it make to me? It made none. To each his own. It would be nice to be so deluded so as to be able to gain some sort of comfort, but alas there could be no such comfort for me. I couldn’t delude myself if I wanted to. The truth was the only thing I could know, even if it meant nothing.
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