The world is not a friendly place for atheists and secularists. Such people are increasingly being portrayed as a threat to society or even as terrorists, the “Freedom of Thought Report”—published annually on International Human Rights Day on December 10—has said. Apostates or freethinkers, whose rights are recognised in UN treaties, invite capital punishment for apostasy or religious blasphemy in 13 countries, all of them Muslim. The study, by the International Humanist and Ethical Union, pointed to “hate campaigns” by public figures against them in nations like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Egypt.
Interestingly, even in a country like Russia, where communist ideology has been replaced by Orthodox Christianity that held sway before the 1917 revolution, any public expression of atheist views can be equated with blasphemy and criminalised. Some Western countries, too, are witness to governments strengthening the privileged position of religion in society. In Britain, for instance, atheism and humanism have been dropped from religious studies in state schools. The labelling of atheists or nonbelievers as akin to terrorists is ironic to say the least, given that the biggest terror threats today are posed by armed groups inspired by religious fundamentalism.
The truth is that the world will continue to remain divided on the lines of theists, atheists, agnostics, zealots, moderates and the like. Considering there has been a reported global decline in religious belief, the number of sceptics is likely to grow with further scientific advances. Penal measures against atheists, borne out of an upsurge in revivalism, are reprehensible and push mankind backwards to the ancient times when the pioneering philosopher Socrates was tried and executed for impiety. Scepticism and scientific temper should be encouraged, while reining in fanaticism and bigotry, lest the growing religious extremism lead to another Crusade.