AAI News

http://euobserver.com/9/30506

BRUSSELS - Brussels is to hold an EU summit with atheists and freemasons in the autumn, inviting them to a political dialogue parallel to the annual summit the bloc holds with Europe's religious leaders.

While the EU is a secular body, the three European presidents, of the commission, parliament and EU Council, alongside two commissioners, on Monday met with 24 bishops, chief rabbis, and muftis as well as leaders from the Hindu and Sikh communities. The annual dialogue, which has taken place since 2005, is for the first time this year made legally obligatory under Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Under pressure from Belgium, which constitutionally protects and financially supports humanist organisations as well as churches, the EU has been forced to hold a mirror-image summit, but of atheists, scheduled for 15 October.

However, in a move that perplexed and annoyed humanist groups, the EU atheist summit will also welcome under the rubric of ‘non-religious groups', the Freemasons, the secretive fraternal organisation, according to commission spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein.


AAI is pleased to announce the opening of preregistration for its 16th annual North American convention, Atheists Without Borders, to be held in Montréal, Quebec the weekend of October 1-3, 2010.


AAI's next convention, Gods & Politics, will be in Copenhagen, Denmark June 18-20 2010. A stellar lineup of two dozen major renowned freethought figures in one of Denmark's most beautiful settings.  Visit www.AtheistConvention.eu for more details.

May 2009

Nonprofits seem always to be looking for money. The panic of making budget seems to make raising money impossible without knowing someone rich and famous such as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.


Secularism remains under threat in the US and across the world as religious groups press for special privileges and freedom from accountability.  Join our Action Response Team to respond quickly to atheist discrimination and church-state entanglement threats when they arise!

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