AAI launches appeal to support Alex Aan

25 January 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

25 January 2012

Indonesian authorities must support freedom of speech and conscience

Atheist Alliance International launches appeal to support Alexander Aan

Atheist Alliance International (AAI) demands that the Indonesian government support freedom of speech and freedom of conscience by immediately releasing Alexander Aan from custody and dropping all charges against him, pursuing the perpetrators of the physical attack against Aan and repealing the country’s oppressive anti-blasphemy legislation.

“Alexander simply expressed his view that there is no god. In contrast, his attackers assaulted a real person and must be brought to justice,” said AAI President Tanya Smith.

“Indonesia’s anti-blasphemy laws are an appalling relic from the country’s period of dictatorship. They should be repealed as an essential step towards the freedom of Indonesia's people and the country's participation in the modern world,” Smith said.

Karl Karnadi, an Indonesian atheist associated with AAI said "Any religious person would say that gods of other religions do not exist. Why should Alex be arrested for effectively saying the same? Just because he is an atheist doesn't mean that he should be jailed. Religious and non-religious people are going to disagree and that may offend some, but that's a natural outcome from people having different views. Such an absurd law should not exist in Indonesia or in any other place."

Police in Dharmasraya, western Sumatra, on Friday (20 January) said that Aan had been charged with blasphemy for postings he made on a 1,200-member Facebook group.

Aan had initially been taken into ‘protective custody’ after he was beaten by a mob of religious zealots. There have been no indications that his assailants will face prosecution. Aan, a civil servant, has also been threatened with the loss of his job.

Muslim-majority Indonesia officially recognizes only six faith traditions: Islam, protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Citizens are forced to choose from one of these traditions when applying for identification cards.

Atheist Alliance International has launched an appeal for donations to help pay for Aan's legal costs and to support the Aan family's living expenses while he is in jail, at www.atheistalliance.org/support-aai/donate (Legal/Support Fund for Alex Aan).

Boko Haram and the threat of political Islam

Written by Leo Igwe | 21 January 2012

Originally published in the Daily Times

Nigeria’s most deadly Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has just detonated mutiple bombs in the city of Kano. Curfew has been imposed and the city, the state and the entire nation is engulfed in tension, fear and uncertainty. Several lives have reportedly been lost. This group appears unrelenting in its murderous campaign.

Kano has joined the ranks of northern states -Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau, Niger where the terror of Boko Haram holds sway. Religious crisis orchestrated by Muslim fundamentalists is not new to this northern city but these attacks have brought a frightening dimension to Islamic militancy in the region.

The Spokesperson of Boko Haram, Abdul Qaqa, told journalists that they carried out the attacks on the city because the authorities had refused to release their members arrested and detained by the police. So with these attacks, Boko Haram has sent very clear signals to the authorities in Kano and beyond- “Capitulate”, “Surrender”, “Do our Bidding”, “Join forces with us”, “Embrace our cause” or “Be destroyed”. Since last year, Boko Haram has carried out bomb attacks on several institutions including the UN building and police headquarters in Abuja. This militant group has targeted churches and southerners or anyone they percieved to be opposed to their cause of implementing sharia and enthroning political islam. It has declared a war on anybody, muslims as well as non muslims, opposed to or critical of its cause. This is characteristic of the totalitarian nature of political Islam- a social political and economic order based on Sharia.

A fringe movement that started with a group of Islamic preachers on the streets of Maiduguri a few years ago, has turned to a real threat to Nigeria’s corporate existence and a terror to the world.

Blasphemy laws protect religion from legitimate scrutiny

Written by Administrator | 19 January 2012

Yesterday we shared a great article about Indonesian Atheists and its work to stand up for rational thought in Indonesia. Today we heard that an Indonesian man has been bashed and may be charged with blasphemy after he posted "God does not exist" on his Facebook page. Blasphemy laws restrict free speech in an effort to protect religion from legitimate scrutiny and criticism. If religion could actually withstand rational appraisal it wouldn't need such protection.

‘God Does Not Exist’ Comment Ends Badly for Indonesia Man

Original published in The Jakarta Globe

An Indonesian civil servant who posted “God does not exist” on his Facebook page has been taken into police custody for his own protection after he was badly beaten.

The man, identified as Alexander, 31, now faces the prospect of losing his job, or even being jailed, if he fails to repent and accept one of six official state religions.

Blasphemy carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Local media reported that when Alexander arrived at work at the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board (Bappeda) on Wednesday, a group of men, also understood to comprise government officials, attacked and beat him before police arrived and took him into protective custody.

Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz told the Jakarta Globe that Alexander moderated a Facebook account titled “Ateis Minang” (Minang Atheists) and had written an update that “God does not exist.”

Chairul said he could not confirm the reports that Alexander was attacked but say that he had taken into protective custody to “anticipate anarchy.”

“Besides, he is also afraid of being intimidated or hurt.”

No Need to Believe: Indonesia's Atheists

Written by Indonesian Atheists | 18 January 2012

This article was originally published in The Jakarta Globe

At first glance, Karl Karnadi may look like any other 20-something trying to find his place in the world. It doesn’t take long, however, to realize there is something positively different about him.

Consciously argumentative, eagerly opinionated and thoroughly knowledgeable, Karl stands for something many Indonesians still find utterly unfathomable: He is an outspoken atheist, and the founder of the rapidly growing Indonesian Atheists community.

Karl, 29, does not keep his beliefs private, something many other Indonesian atheists have chosen to do in the face of frequent hostility. He makes no bones about his rejection of what he refers to as supernaturally infused beliefs, and he is passionate about fostering a fundamental change in Indonesia while remaining realistic about the challenges.

Furthermore, Karl promotes tolerance, and is far less hostile toward religion than some of the world’s most recognized scholars of nonbelief such as Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett and Richard Dawkins.

Established in 2008, Karl’s IA has 677 active members on its Facebook page who discuss the profusion of religiously related topics around the country.

The IA community has also taken part in a variety of scientific and philosophical seminars and gatherings, and has expanded its ties with similar groups outside Indonesia.

“We’ve built a network with other nonbelievers and humanist organizations in Southeast Asia,” Karl says.

With other atheist associations in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, IA has established a joint Web site called Southeast Asian Atheists, or sea-atheists.org, which hopes to broaden the discussion among atheists from different backgrounds.

“Starting last year, we have also affiliated ourselves with a global network called Atheist Alliance International, through which we build close contacts with similar communities around the world,” Karl said. “From Pakistan, Brazil, Ireland and Afghanistan, there are atheists and agnostics everywhere.”

The Rise of Atheism in Pakistan

Written by Pakistani Atheists and Agnostics | 10 January 2012

Originally published by The Commentator

An increasing number of young Pakistanis are adopting Atheism and openly questioning the existence of a God. Many analysts have attributed this trend to the rise of Islamist militancy in Pakistan as well as access to social media and other technological tools that allow people to share and explore new ideas.

A Facebook group called ‘Pakistani Atheists and Agnostics’ was launched a few months ago and has already attracted over 800 members. I caught up with the founder of this group, a young Pakistani Technologist operating under the pseudonym ‘Hazrat Nakhuda’, in order to discuss this new phenomenon.

Ghaffar: What inspired you to launch the Pakistani Atheists and Agnostics group?

Hazrat Nakhuda: Atheist groups and movements are a global trend. PAA is a part of that but it is different. The problem is that most of the groups for freethinkers are in secular countries. In my view the battle for reason, rationality and freethinking doesn’t need to be fought (with urgency) in England, Holland or Canada. It is here, in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia where we need to fight the battle for reason. It is here where the battle will be the most hard-hitting, it is here where reason needs to triumph, and it is here where we can’t afford to lose.

Almost every Muslim-majority country is under-developed economically or socially. I believe that when a religion is adopted by a state it stifles progress. Pakistanis are running 40,000 Madrasas but 30 percent of the children under the age of 5 are malnourished.

We missed our millennium goals to eradicate polio because we couldn’t run the refrigerators that housed the vaccine, but we spent a fortune on the ‘Islamic bomb’.

This country would praise Mumtaz Qadri (the murderer of Salman Taseer), and yet marginalize the only Nobel laureate of the country because he was from minority sect.

If you want to see how much a hindrance religion can be in the progress of a nation, look at Pakistan.

Defiling the memory of the holocaust in Israel

02 January 2012

By Greg Fish. Originally published on the World of Weird Things blog.

If you’ve ever visited r/atheism or any major atheist and skeptic sites, you’re probably well aware of the martyr complex, the guilt trip used by religious fundamentalists who believe that not being allowed to impose the will of their leaders on the rest of the society they inhabit, is tantamount to persecution. In the United States this is often played out in attempts to institute public prayer, force the government to somehow declare a preference for Christianity as the national religion, or at least as the preferred religion of the state. In Israel, ultra-Orthodox communities’ demands to segregate and control the nation have far more severe consequences. Their towns in West Bank settlements are quickly becoming security hazards according to growing voices from the IDFand lately, they’ve gone overboard by invoking the history of Jewish persecution in Europe in a way that I could only describe as downright shameful. Jewish history is filled with stories of being chased out of counties and hunted down by members of other faiths. and those stories are quoted on a regular basis. But not like this.

AAI's 2011 Top 10 Stories for the International Atheist Community

Written by Stuart Bechman | 01 January 2012

As we commence 2012, AAI looks back at the Top 10 stories for the international atheist community in 2011.

1. Outspoken Atheist Christopher Hitchens Dies

Journalist, author, iconoclast and outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens died in 2011 after struggling against esophagal cancer for over a year. Hitchens was not only well-known for his fiery rhetoric and incomparable wit, he was also celebrated in the atheist community as one of the best-known to take religion to task for its harm to society.

Hitchens first became known in much of the atheist community with his release of The Missionary Position, a scathing expose on Catholic nun "Mother" Theresa and the community center she ran in Bangladesh. Hitchens followed this work a few years later with God Is Not Great, a more comprehensive tome on the failings and corruption of religion over the centuries.

He will be missed.

The Imaginary Friends Show

Written by Tanya Smith | 23 December 2011

I spoke to The Imaginary Friends Show last week in the wake of Christopher Hitchens' death, as well as discussing what AAI does and options for Xmas. Hope you enjoy listening!

http:// imaginaryfriendsshow.com/2011/ 12/23/atheist-alliance- international/