It turned me from an atheist to a hurray-theist!

Issues of concern for atheists and non-theists

On a global level, atheists and non-theists seem not to be as institutionalized and vocal as their theistic counterparts.

There were worrying trends towards applying blasphemy laws in a discriminatory manner, often disproportionately punishing non-theists, atheists and members of religious minorities.

Some laws against blasphemy are used in practice to repress not only religious minorities or dissenters but also atheists and non-theists.

Moreover, groups of atheists and non-theists have recently voiced their deep concerns about the present exercise to combat “defamation of religions” at the international level.

Furthermore, atheistic and non-theistic groups objected to the manner in which syllabuses of religious education were drawn up, especially that atheists and non-theists were rarely represented on the relevant committees or advisory bodies.

In some cases there is a choice between only two or three officially recognized religions, without the option to refrain from indicating one's religion or to declare that one is an atheist or non-theist.

Theism is the belief in the existence of one supernatural being (monotheism) or several divinities (polytheism), whereas a non-theist is someone who does not accept a theistic understanding of deity.

More recently, atheists and non-theists made the Special Rapporteur aware of the following issues of concern with regard to blasphemy laws, education issues, equality legislation, as well as official consultations held only with religious representatives.