Peers in the House of Lords have discussed the persecution of humanists around the world in a debate on freedom of religion and belief.
Lord Alton’s motion had asked that the Lords take note of Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which stipulates that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion – and called upon the Government to make upholding freedom of religion and belief a greater priority.
Some of you may have heard news reports like this one from Yahoo News about a church being ‘knocked down by the Communists’. This is how they report it:
Good on Williams here. I have talked about this before, that persecution as defined and supposedly exemplified by the victimised modern Christian is nothing but a ridiculous concept, and an insult to people around the world who are genuinely being persecuted, including real Christians in some hardline Islamic contexts. Here is the Guardian:
You might well have heard about the plight of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. I have signed a petition, and urge you to do so if it is still valid. Being persecuted (and yes, I mean this overused term) for nonbelief is simply outrageous in this day and age.