![2016-03 AAI Gender Balance Report](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/documents/2016-03_AAI_Gender_Balance_Report.png)
Why I'm not a Christian/Why I'm not a Muslim by the late Frank Downer Saintilan
Atheist Alliance International would like to thank Paul Saintilan for kindly and generously gifting this work to us for free distribution. As a "mark of respect and in an effort to commemorate his passing," Mr. Saintilan compiled the document, which was authored by his late father and includes "Why I am Not a Christian," and "Why I am Not a Muslim." Please help us celebrate the life of Frank Downer Saintilan, and to help his legacy live on, by enjoying and sharing this thoughtful collection.
An appeal to stop witch hunting in Nigeria
By Leo Igwe
I am using this medium to ask you to contact ACP Bunmi Osoko (TEL NO. 08033004406) Officer in-charge State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Cross River State police headquarters (Nigeria) and urge him to investigate and bring to justice those who lynched TWO ALLEGED WITCHES, CHIEF BASSEY EFFIOM NGWE and MR ASUQUO EFFIONG ETIM from Akwa Ikot Effanga in Akpabuyo LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria. (Graphic: See attached the blazing remains of Chief Bassey Effiom Ngwe) The alleged witches were killed by a lynch mob ON SUNDAY JULY 3 2016 after a 'native doctor' declared that they were responsible for several deaths of young people in the village. The native doctor is currently in police custody but according to my local contact person, none of those who killed the alleged witches had been arrested. There are concerns that the matter may eventually die if pressure is not brought on the Nigerian state and police authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice! In addition, the lynch mob had attacked and looted the house of CHIEF BASSEY EFFIOM NGWE after the son reported the case to the police. The son has fled the community and is currently in hiding.We need you to take urgent action NOW
PLEASE call ACP Bunmi Osoko (TEL NO. 08033004406). You can also contact the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Cross River, Benedict Ayade, Inspector General of Police in Abuja to take action on the matter!
Witch hunting must stop. Witch hunters must be brought to justice!![burntbody](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/regionalreports/burntbody.jpg)
![burntbody](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/regionalreports/burntbody.jpg)
Not religious any more?
The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) launches a campaign which invites Australians to mark 'No religion'
on their Census form.
on their Census form.
![AFA campaign advertising](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/images/web/AFA-supermarket.jpg)
Secular Groups Urge Repeal of Greek Blasphemy Law
More than fifty secular organizations, Atheist Alliance International being one of them, signed a letter to the Secretary-General for Transparency and Human Rights at the Ministry of Justice in Greece. Read more on the IHEU website: It is past time to abolish “blasphemy” law
Nonreligious Scouts offered badge to protest Boy Scout bigotry
![Boyscout Badgetilt](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/images/web/Boyscout_Badgetilt.png)
The badge, featuring a red "A" based on a symbol of atheism and agnosticism popularized by distinguished scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, is being issued in collaboration with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. The Boy Scouts of America formally discriminates against nonreligious boys and their families, officially excluding atheists, agnostics and nonbelievers. Currently, the organization maintains "that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God."
"The Freedom From Religion Foundation maintains instead that no one who discriminates against the nonreligious can grow into the best kind of citizen," says FFRF co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor, who is co-president of FFRF with her husband Dan Barker.
"It's what you do — not what you believe — that makes you a good person," adds Barker, a former evangelical minister who is also co-founder of The Clergy Project, a support group for ministers who lose their faith.
FFRF, at the urging of its member Richard Kirschman, has produced a badge similar to the Boy Scouts' merit badges, which are typically sewn on uniforms or sashes.
Scouts who wish to earn this badge are asked to help disprove the group's misguided claim that nonbelievers cannot be good citizens. The requirements, paralleling typical merit badge requirements, ask Scouts to learn about secularism and the rich history of dissent from religion.
In The Beginning...Was Atheism
Earliest evidence for atheism predates Jesus by at least 500 years, Cambridge professor argues
A new Cambridge University study argues that atheism is in fact one of the world's oldest religions – long predating Christianity and Islam.
Far from being the result of scientific breakthroughs or modern mass education, the belief that there were no gods was relatively common in the ancient world, research by Prof Tim Whitmarsh, a leading Cambridge classicist, concludes.
But the "ancient atheism" was effectively written out of history after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire after the reign of Constantine in the early 4th Century, heralding a new era of state-imposed belief, Prof Whitmarsh, Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge, argues.
Gambian President Declares an Islamic State
![Map of Gambia](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930185753im_/https://johniezzi.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/the-gambia.gif)
"In line with the country's religious identity and values, I proclaim The Gambia as an Islamic state," President Yahya Jammeh declared in December. "Accepting Allah's religion as your religion and as your way of life is not negotiable."
Pakistan, Iran, and fellow African nation Mauritania also identify themselves as Islamic states.
However, the claim has drawn ire from opposition and pro-democracy groups.
Jammeh said the decision to declare the country an Islamic state was a response to the current reality in Gambia, a British colony until 1965.
"As Muslims are the majority in the country, Gambia cannot afford to continue the colonial legacy," he said.
Bounded by the overwhelmingly Muslim Senegal, Christians make up about 5 percent of Gambia's 1.7 million population. More than half of this group is Catholic, while Protestants make up 1.5 percent of the total population, according to 2010 data from the Pew Research Center's Global Religious Futures project.
Gambia's opposition leader objected to the announcement, arguing that Gambia is a secular state, and a change to that must be constitutionally confirmed.
"You cannot make such a declaration without going through a referendum," said National Reconciliation Party leader Hamat Bah.
Jammeh has been in power since his coup in 1994, and has a "deplorable human rights record and rampant corruption" which lost him Western support, said Human Rights Watch's Jeffrey Smith.
"As such, he is desperately attempting to foster a closer and more lucrative relationship with the Arab world," Smith told Al-Jazeera. "By couching his decision in terms of 'fighting colonialism,' we can see that he is trying to cozy up with other parts of the world that harbor anti-West sentiments."
AAI Gender Balance Report
![2016-03 AAI Gender Balance Report](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/documents/2016-03_AAI_Gender_Balance_Report.png)
Gender imbalance in the atheist / humanist community has been noted for many years, including in AAI's own Atheist Census project. AAI has determined this gender imbalance to be a problem in our community, rooted in centuries-old patriarchal systems and promoted and defended by many of the world's religions.
In today's modernist world with recognized human rights for women as outlined in the UN's Convention on Women's Rights, AAI believes that gender imbalance, both in our own communities as well as in the general populace, is an important issue for atheists to embrace and work to overcome as part of our responsibility to our humanity.
The report has been added to AAI's Position Statements webpage and can be read there.
Vatican Told to Get Tough on Money Laundering
![vatican1](/web/20170930185753im_/https://atheistalliance.org/userdata/images/web/vatican1.jpg)
"There is a need now for the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing system, to deliver effective results in terms of prosecutions, convictions and confiscation," said the report by the Council of Europe's Moneyval oversight agency.
Although the Holy See has adopted new legislation in recent years to tackle money laundering within the city-state, there have been no indictments or prosecutions as a result of the new rules.
The Vatican had to agree to the vetting procedure after it joined the European Union Monetary Convention in 2009 as part of an effort to clean up its finances and shed the Holy See's reputation for financial scandals.
Icelanders flocking to the Zuist religion
A new religion, Zuism, based on the worship of the ancient Sumeran gods promises a refund for government religion taxes for everyone registering with their religious group in Iceland.
On the Zuist website in Iceland it was advertised that anyone over the age of 16 registering with the religion (and thus unregistering from the National Church of Iceland) would get a refund for these fees called parish fees. However, tax authorities have responded to questions from news organizations explaining that if Zuists go ahead to refund parish fees to their members they will have to pay income tax from these funds.
Zuists would like to abolish government funding to religious organisations in the form of parish fees and believe that the "state should stop gathering data on the personal religious beliefs of Icelanders."
Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is, says judge
The Telegraph (UK): A two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to be systematically de-Christianised.
It says that the decline of churchgoing and the rise of Islam and other faiths mean a "new settlement" is needed for religion in the UK, giving more official influence to non-religious voices and those of non-Christian faiths.
The report provoked a furious row as it was condemned by Cabinet ministers as "seriously misguided" and the Church of England said it appeared to have been "hijacked" by humanists.
The report, by the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, claims that faith schools are "socially divisive" and says that the selection of children on the basis of their beliefs should be phased out.
All pupils at non-faith schools must study atheism, UK judge rules
![BHA Logo](http://web.archive.org./web/20170930185753im_/https://images.justgiving.com/image/b3c7e53e-382d-4ad7-8ba4-63920799969a.jpg?template=size200x200)
The decision was met with fierce opposition by religious groups which argued "humanistic ideas already dominate the rest of the curriculum", while teachers warned a slow official response might risk wasting valuable teaching time and resources.
The ruling was a victory for three families, supported by the British Humanist Association, who claimed Nicky Morgan had taken a "skewed" approach and was failing to reflect in schools the pluralistic nature of the UK.