{UAH} 13 COUNTRIES THAT IMPOSE DEATH PENALTY FOR ATHEISM

Ahmed Kateggaga,

Below are the details of the 13 countries that impose the death
penalty for Atheism or even for being Agnostic or having no belief at
all. All of them are majority muslim countries. No christian majority
country punishes any one for whatever belief they hold or don't hold.

Bobby

There Are 13 Countries Where Atheism Is Punishable by Death
Abby Ohlheiser

Atheists living in 13 countries risk being condemned to death, just
for their 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):

Source: IHEU

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.

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