All posts tagged: Atheist

Atheist professor’s award vetoed by Turkish Government

Atheist professor’s award vetoed by Turkish Government

Published by Sam Flores

A British professor due to receive an honorary doctorate in Turkey has had the award rescinded by governmental decree due to his vocal criticism of religion. Istanbul Kültür University had offered the distinction to Peter Atkins in recognition of “the profound impact” of his scientific work, and his “extraordinary influence as one of the most celebrated educators of our time”. Atkins is a professor emeritus of physical chemistry and fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, who has published over 80 textbooks worldwide. He is also a prominent atheist and critic of religion in public life, who has argued that science, not religion, holds the answers to the fundamental questions of human existence. But last week, after accepting the university’s invitation, Professor Atkins was informed by his host that it was to be revoked. Presentations of honorary degrees in Turkey are now required to obtain governmental approval, and in Professor Atkins’ case, this approval was denied. Though the decree itself was confidential, Atkins’ host was able to share that the decision related to his publicly expressed views …

When Academic Standards Collide With Performative Outrage – Atheist Alliance International

When Academic Standards Collide With Performative Outrage – Atheist Alliance International

Published by Sam Flores

A Christian student at the University of Oklahoma has filed a complaint alleging religious discrimination — after turning in a biblically-based opinion piece that failed to meet even the basic expectations of academic work. Not borderline, not debatable: we are talking about an assignment so unmoored from the prompt that it reads less like an undergrad essay and more like a Sunday-school pamphlet. And yet, in the upside-down contemporary world of manufactured campus outrage, this was somehow enough to trigger an administrative investigation and to place the graduate teaching assistant on leave, as though grading according to academic standards is now an actionable offense. Let’s walk through the facts — and the farce. What the Assignment Actually Was The psychology class assignment was simple: a 650-word reaction to a scholarly article on how societal gender expectations shape peer relations and mental health. Students were asked to: demonstrate they had read the article, respond to its claims, and ground their answer in some recognizable form of psychological empirical reasoning and engagement with the research. In other …

the Heartbeat of Global Unity – Atheist Alliance International

the Heartbeat of Global Unity – Atheist Alliance International

Published by skeptic

Imagine a gathering where ancient traditions pulse with modern energy, where justice, humanism, and celebration dance hand in hand. Welcome to PATCA—the Periyar Ambedkar Thoughts Circle of Australia—an unstoppable force uniting the Tamil and South Indian diaspora across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and beyond. A Movement, Not Just an Organization Founded on the tenets of Periyarism and Ambedkarism, PATCA champions social justice, caste equity, and cultural pride with unrelenting passion. Their milestones read like a timeline of progress: 2022: Submitted over 30 representations to the Australian Human Rights Commission demanding caste discrimination be recognized as a form of racism. December 2022: Historic breakthrough—AHRC formally acknowledged caste discrimination as racism. July 2023: NSW Greens became the first political party in the Western world to acknowledge caste as a protected policy platform. December 2024: PATCA’s community work fed into the Australian Human Rights Commission’s anti-racism framework, pushing for caste to be legally protected. March 2025: The stirring visit of Dravidian luminaries Asiriyar K. Veeramani and Advocate Arulmozhi electrified four states and solidified PATCA’s position as a beacon of …

The ‘Reluctant Activist’: Being Outed as an Atheist in a Muslim-Majority Country

The ‘Reluctant Activist’: Being Outed as an Atheist in a Muslim-Majority Country

Published by skeptic

Secular Rescue’s mission is predominantly rooted in protecting emboldened atheist activists whose lives have become the targets of extremists because of public or social-media based human rights advocacy. It is relatively easy to spot an activist from a sideliner: nearly all or a majority of activist writing focuses on the inhumanity of hateful intolerance against those who choose no religion over some faith. However, many of those who seek emergency assistance from the Center for Inquiry’s Secular Rescue program are deemed “reluctant activists”: those who do not intentionally engage in public advocacy for freedom of conscience or the freedom to not believe in God but nevertheless become de facto activists. Such is the case of Ali, a young Tunisian ex-Muslim who was outed in his community, in a public way, as an apostate from Islam. He didn’t deny it and continued to try to live a secular life but was persistently harassed and unable to find work—declined because of his atheism. Like most atheists in Muslim-majority countries, early threats came from family: he was threatened …