From Affiliate & Associate Members

Articles and other publications in this section were written by authors or organisations independent of Atheist Alliance International. The views contained in such articles and other publications are the views of the authors and may not reflect the views of Atheist Alliance International.

Russian Duma Attempts To Legalize Government-Paid Security for Church Patriarch

16 August 2011

Understanding the importance of the protection of the life and safety of all citizens of Russia, including that of the religious leaders in our country, the Good Sense (Zdravomislie) Public Fund has met the news of the upcoming amendments to our secular law with alarm.

The Public Fund Good Sense learned that the government of Russia initiated an amendment in the state Duma of the Russian Federation in the form of bill № 5861785, containing a clause to expand the list of individuals being protected by government, with taxpayers money, to include an unspecified number of people that do not have any relation to government service or the functioning of the state. Among those listed in the expanded list was the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

This bill was apparently created in order to legalize the state security which has been provided for the church Patriarch for many years now without any legal basis.

In relation to this, the Good Sense Foundation addresses an open letter to the President of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, in which we ask him to answer two questions:

1) Will somebody be held accountable for the violation of legal principles that have been going on for a number of years?

2) How does the government’s initiative to support just one out of many religious organizations registered in Russia correspond with the secular nature of our state, as indicated in our national constitution?

The Fund is also addressing a letter to the head of the dedicated Security Committee in the State Duma, Vasiliev V.A, with a request to act out of a sense for public consent in terms of ethnic and religious cross-relations when discussing the bill. We also ask that the Duma keep the secular basis of our national constitution in mind when determining what private Russian citizens should be eligible to receive government-paid security protection.

Introducing the Balozi Journal – THE JAF MAGAZINE

Written by Boaz Adhengo | 12 August 2011

Jahwar Amber Fund, popularly known as JAF, is a secular group operating in Kenya. It is the sole national organization of its kind, formed to offer support towards the development of steady atheism in the country and the wider East African region.

To date, the organization has not accomplished much, having just been setup in 2009. But it can boast of having risen to its expectations, that of making known that atheism in Africa is possible for as long as there is a nurturing support.

Balozi Journal is the latest development that JAF has been able to put forth, aimed at collecting global and local views on the progress of African atheism, with specific incline on Kenya as the lead region where the organization operates from. JAF is currently looking for sponsors to help it realize a number of proposals it has put forth in support of its strategic objectives. It cannot accommodate the need for enlightenment in Kenya as a sole organ, thus calling for supporters and partners in this mutual quest of making the world a safer place for atheism.

This being the first edition of Balozi Journal, it emphatically covered situations in Kenya, recording the voices of the minorities as already known but put a pledge of more intense reporting in the future editions of practical secularism. We continue to thank the Secular Students Alliance, which has been an inspiration to many of the volunteer team who patched the different articles into a magazine it has become.

The views expressed on this journal are those of the authors and not in any way representative of the editorial team or the Jahwar Amber Fund. May you enjoy your readership and keep the feedback post vibrant with suggestions on how we can do this even much better. CLICK HERE FOR A COPY

Boaz Adhengo is the editor – in – chief of the Balozi Journal and a Director of AAI.

The First Atheist and Agnostic Convention in the Philippines, hosted by PATAS

06 August 2011

The Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society will hold its first convention in Manila. We will be discussing PATAS' future goals and will be talking about Atheism/Agnosticism, Secularism and Humanism. We are selecting speakers for this convention from different personalities from the US and the Philippines.

Date: Saturday, April 21, 2012 · 6:00am - 8:00pm

Place: Bayview Parks and Hotels, United Nations Avenue, Manila Philippines

The Most Ridiculous Lawsuit Yet!

05 August 2011

A “Christian” midwife is suing a UK hospital in what may be the most ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit yet. Apparently in the hospital she is required to wear *gasp* surgical scrub trousers. Yes, you read it right she is suing because she believes that wearing trousers is against her religion.

Apparently there is a passage on Deuteronomy (22:5) which forbids women from wearing men’s clothes and vice-versa. Again, yes really, and this is the basis of her lawsuit claiming religious discrimination.

There is only one place for this waste of a tribunal’s time, the surgical waste bin!

Source: http://www.atheismuk.com/2011/08/02/news/the-most-ridiculous-lawsuit-yet/

Selling Human Organs: Ritual Killings for Medicine, and the Quest for Secular Healing!

Written by Boaz Adhengo | 03 August 2011

Arguments revolving around the ethics of critical thought maintain that colonialism, and in this case, the British, were responsible for the invention of superstitious insanity, diluting the traditional practices that African communities had within them during this time of exploration, notably, around the 16th century. Surprisingly enough, England was on top gear towards its preparations of free market ideologue, and industrialization was supposed to be the key linchpin in these celebrations, an endeavour that would initiate the global quest for superiority and capitalistic advancements.