Great article describing the groundswell movement of atheist, humanist and freethought organizations around the globe. When so much of our societal disfunction can be traced to religious foundations, it is wonderful to see these groups growing in number as people start to realize what is actually happening in the world. There are some scary stories to tell, from apostasy in middle eastern countries to child sacrifice in africa to child molestation around the world to the israel/palestine issue, to the evangelical seven mountain issue here in the U.S., to death threats for cartoons, to 9-11, it has gotten completely out of control. It is great to see some people over in Switzerland with the guts to get into the political arena for the first time as a non-religious option for voters. What I would give to see that here! It is a good start and hopefully something that will come to pass around the world in due time.
"We decided we had to stand up and tell our politicians that it's time they recognised that there are a lot of non-religious people in their electorate," says 42-year-old Andreas Kyriacou, who heads the list.
"We, and probably a lot of Swiss people who have never thought about humanism or atheism, are tired of the influence the churches and religion still exert in this country," he said in an interview with Reuters.
"There is a group for Bible study in our parliament, but no cross-party humanist group, though we know many of the deputies are non-believers," he says. "On right and left, they prefer to keep their heads down."
And Kyriacou points to the failure of politicians to take a stand on social issues like assisted suicide and abortion, where the Catholic church in particular has strong views, and on the powerful place of religion in education in parts of the country.
His stance -- as measured by comments at other conferences around Europe over the summer -- reflects growing determination among humanists and atheists on all five continents to make themselves more visible and their influence felt.
Here is a link to an article talking about child sacrifice still happening in Africa... scary:
Where Child Sacrifice is a Business - BBC News 10/11/11
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