Tomorrow is #ApostasyDay


It’s not exactly a day of celebration. Apostasy Day is a time to reject oppressive dogmas.

22 August is being chosen as Apostasy Day because it is the UN Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. Moreover, late August marks the start of a second wave of mass executions of apostates in Iran in 1988 after brief “trials”. Thousands who responded negatively to questions such as ‘Are you a Muslim?’, ‘Do you believe in Allah?’, ‘Is the Holy Qur’an the Word of Allah?’, ‘Do you accept the Holy Muhammad to be the Seal of the Prophets?’, ‘Do you fast during Ramadan?’, ‘Do you pray and read the Holy Qur’an?’ were summarily executed.

On the newly established Apostasy Day, we renew calls for the:
• commemoration of the victims of apostasy laws
• an end to the criminalisation and the death penalty for apostasy in countries under Islamic laws
• an end to shunning, threats and honour-related violence from families of apostates
• affirmation of freedom of thought, conscience and belief as well as opinion and expression in compliance with the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 18 & 19).

Speak out! You can add your name to the list of signatories, at the very least.

Comments

  1. Rob Grigjanis says

    Yeah, regimes and attitudes which punish apostasy in any way should be condemned. But one could come away from the Avaaz article thinking that the 1988 mass executions were all about the apostasy. They weren’t. The main targets were members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, who would have been asked questions like “will you denounce the people you worked with?”, etc.

    Members of other groups would have got the questions quoted, but even non-believers were spared the death penalty if they answered in the negative to “did your father pray and read the Qu’ran?”. They just got flogged until they agreed to pray. That is not in the least exculpatory (if you murder one person and spare another, you’re still a murderer), but it is a distinction with a life-and-death difference for some, and worth knowing if you’re in a similar predicament.

    Amnesty International Report

  2. brightmoon says

    I know a few former Jehovahs Witnesses who would love this . They pt up with severe almost sadistic emotional abuse for leaving the religion

  3. birgerjohansson says

    In regard to ex-muslims, Abdullah Sameer can be found at Youtube. He is surprisingly polite, considering the online abuse he has to endure..
    The Youtube “Apostate Prophet” ( I forget his name) is a more fuck-you apostate, who has been threatened but never backs down.
    They provide insight into the theology and its many and varied flaws.
    .
    -And regarding China and their brutal repression of Uighurs; fuck Xi and fuck the western (and even arab) leaders who give China passive support because of $$$.

  4. birgerjohansson says

    I want a T shirt that says both “absolut apostate ” and “absolut kuffar” (the swedish vodka-related spelling is a bonus)
    .
    Or a translation of the early Swedish punk hit “Hang God”.

  5. birgerjohansson says

    -To celebrate apostasy and have fun, I recommend checking out ‘God Awful Movies’ at Youtube.
    “GAM 261 The Omega Code” is about a Christian film with the plot “the bible is a holographic computer with prophesies hidden within, like DNA”.
    .
    “God Awful Movies 50, Day When Sun Rises In The West” is about a muslim film with a group of friends who experience the signs of the coming apocalypse, as predicted by the quran.
    You know, if the Earth suddenly stopped spinning, and then started spinning in the opposite direction, you would be too dead to worry about any apocalypse :) ;)