There are many organizations in the West that aim to promote a naturalistic worldview and rational thinking. They are not against religion, but against its active role in public and political life. Secularism implies that everyone can practice whatever religion they want, but not forgetting the right of another person to practice another religion or not to have one at all. N_bi_G have prepared an overview of the most prominent organizations that advocate freedom of conscience.
Atheist Alliance International
An international organization of atheists and free-thinkers
The Alliance was founded in 1991 in the United States. In this case, the word atheist should not be associated with the experience of the Soviet aggressive fight against religion. Its members do not bomb churches or generally behave peacefully. Rather, they attempt to affirm the possibility of coexistence between people of different religious persuasions in the world through their actions. It is not unbelief that is opposed to faith, but reason and rational thought. The view of the world around us through divine revelation is opposed to the scientific method of knowledge and the idea that our knowledge must be substantiated empirically, and if suddenly new data appear, then some of the knowledge may change, because free thinking should not be limited by either divine or scientific dogmas.
The main mission of the Alliance is to achieve the establishment in all countries of a secular model of society, where politics, research and education are not influenced by religious institutions or the religious beliefs of particular groups of citizens, but are based on reason, rational thought and empirical evidence. To accomplish its goals, the Alliance supports existing atheist organizations and helps start new ones, organizes conferences, publishes the journal Secular World and does many other small but important things.
That’s why the Alliance has teamed up with the Richard Dawkins Foundation to start a public outreach campaign called
Another area that follows directly from the problem described is advocacy and lobbying activities. In some countries, member organizations promote legislative initiatives that would secure the right to free exercise of religion and minimize the intrusion of religion into private life and state activities. In others, they are forced to defend atheists against state and citizen attacks. The most recent high-profile story involved the campaign for the defense of Indonesian civic activist Alexander Aan, who was fired from his job, beaten in the street, arrested, and eventually sentenced to two and a half years in prison for writing “There Is No God” on his Facebook page.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) was founded in 1952 in Amsterdam. Today it brings together humanist, atheist, ethical and rationalist organizations from all over the world. It is committed to advancing the humanist movement and establishing humanist values throughout the world. A special section of the website details the organization’s position on all kinds of topics: torture, sexual orientation, armed conflict and more. The organization is a special consultant to the UN, also advises UNICEF and UNESCO. Every three years the Alliance organizes a World Humanist Congress. The last one was in 2011 in Oslo.
Activists for Freedom of Conscience:
Alexander Aan: Indonesian activist was beaten, fired from his job and sentenced to two years in prison for his atheist Facebook status.
Rowan Atkinson: the creator of the image of Mr. Bean initiated a campaign against the adoption of a law on liability for insulting religious feelings.
Bhimrao Ambedkar: one of the authors of India’s constitution was sharply critical of Hinduism and Islam, and advocated the destruction of the caste system.
The IHEU has several large programs. The organization actively fights the caste system in India with the goal of adapting Dalits (“the oppressed” as Bheemrao Ambedkar called the untouchables), who are a closed social structure whose members do not have the same rights as other Hindus and whose children have no chance to be free from the bonds of poverty. The IHEU provides untouchables with free medical services, organizes various counseling programs for youth and women, and programs for the social integration of Dalits and their obtainment of jobs alternative to traditional employment for this population. However, the problem is not limited to India and the Union is working with scheduled castes in other countries, as today about 250 million people belong to this social group.
Other IHEU activities include educational programs (the Union supports three humanist schools in Uganda), public campaigns for freedom of expression, public campaigns for the separation of religious and state institutions, and other public campaigns related to humanist ideas.
National Secular Society
Britain’s premier secularist organization
The National Secular Society is the main secularist organization in Great Britain. It was founded in the XIX century, and since then it has been consistently advocating the separation of religion from the state and the establishment of a society in which one’s religious affiliation would not concern anyone except oneself. If you read a page of statements by members of the society, you will see that most of them are touched by religion through their children. Parents periodically hear from their children about belief in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as about morning collective prayers at school. Beginning in 1944, the British government developed a network of educational institutions for believers. As a result, according to the Ministry of Education website, the English educational system has achieved unbelievable results: today one third of all schools are schools for believers with appropriate subjects, prayers, and other features.
Most of these schools practice discrimination: a teacher may not be hired if he or she is a follower of another religion or an atheist, and the same applies to children. All of this is paid for with taxpayer money. To learn more about the worldview of religious school students, see Richard Dawkins’ documentary Faith School Menace? The main tools to combat this phenomenon are public campaigns and lobbying for the introduction of amendments to the education law.
Besides the problem of the imposition of religion in schools, the NSS also fights for human rights, freedom of expression and, together with other organizations, participates in a public campaign against the adoption of a law implying liability for insult. Incidentally, the campaign is spearheaded by Rowan Atkinson.
The Brights Society
The Brights Society of Enlightened Scientists.
This society consists of various scientists, including Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. The organization aims to promote a naturalistic worldview free of religious beliefs and superstitions. Already knowing the history of schools for believers, one of the Society’s major stated goals–promoting public understanding and acceptance of people who hold a naturalistic worldview–is taken seriously. To understand whether a person is enlightened (bright), it is enough to answer one question. Is his worldview free from belief in the supernatural, in mystical deities, powers, and entities?
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Rational Thought is dedicated to promoting critical thinking and combating religious fundamentalism.
At the moment, the Society’s main activity is the dissemination of the ideas behind it. Activism in this situation is considered, for example, talking to acquaintances (neighbors, colleagues) about what this organization is and why it was created. The next step is communication with a believer. This does not necessarily have to be a religious person, you can inform the ordinary fans of superstition and mysticism (in English the ideologists of the Bright movement call such people super, from the word supernatural). The site has a separate page with examples of how to talk about the supernatural with people who believe in it.
In addition, from time to time the Society organizes separate actions and projects in which any member can participate as a volunteer. For example, any member can donate money so that high school teachers can print out a giant, beautiful poster depicting evolution for free and hang it in their classrooms. It seems like a good way to bring a colorful picture to schoolchildren’s attention to the question of why we evolved from monkeys and not from divine intervention or alien insemination of the Earth.