Thirteen Muslim countries officially punish atheism or apostasy by death and Humanists International asserts that "the overwhelming majority" of the 193 member states of the United Nations "at best discriminate against citizens who have no belief in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy".
[11][12] Tim Whitmarsh argues atheism existed in the ancient world, though it remains difficult to assess its extent given that atheists are referenced (usually disparagingly) rather than having surviving writings.
Given monotheism at the time was a minority view, atheism generally attacked polytheistic beliefs and associated practices in references found.
While atheists (or people perceived as such) were occasionally persecuted, this was rare (perhaps due to being a small group, plus a relative tolerance toward different religious views).
Karen Armstrong has concurred, writing "from birth and baptism to death and burial in the churchyard, religion dominated the life of every single man and woman.
Even if an exceptional man could have achieved the objectivity necessary to question the nature of religion and the existence of God, he would have found no support in either the philosophy or the science of his time.
[17] John Locke, a founder of modern notions of religious liberty, argued that atheists (as well as Catholics and Muslims) should not be granted full citizenship rights.
[24] The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from the University of Oxford and denied custody of his two children after publishing a pamphlet titled The Necessity of Atheism.
[25] Those not willing to swear Christian oaths during judicial proceedings were unable to give evidence in court to obtain justice until this requirement was repealed by Acts passed in 1869 and 1870.
[26] However, the regime strongly opposed "godless communism",[27][28] and all of Germany's atheist and largely left-wing freethought organizations such as the German Freethinkers League (500,000 members)[29] were banned the same year; some right-wing groups were tolerated by the Nazis until the mid-1930s.
[34] According to historian Richard J. Evans, those members of the affiliation gottgläubig "were convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid-1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society".
[35] Heinrich Himmler was a strong promoter of the gottgläubig movement and did not allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline".
Signatories to the convention are barred from "the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers" to recant their beliefs or convert.
"[citation needed][50] A 2009 survey showed that atheists were the most hated demographic group in Brazil, among several other minorities polled, being almost on par with drug addicts.
Few politicians have been willing to acknowledge their lack of belief in supreme beings, since such revelations have been considered "political suicide",[79][80] and some have identified themselves as atheists only after or towards the end of their terms in office.
California Representative Pete Stark was the first openly atheist member of the United States Congress, publicly identifying himself as such in 2007 despite serving since 1973.
During the 2010s, some other members of state legislatures have publicly identified themselves as atheists including Juan Mendez of Arizona,[85][86] Andrew Zwicker of New Jersey,[87] and Megan Hunt of Nebraska.
[119] According to the Humanists International, compared to other nations, 12 countries in Africa, 9 in Asia, and 10 in the Middle East, were given the worst rating for committing "Grave Violations".
[120] Atheists and religious skeptics can be executed in at least thirteen nations: Afghanistan, Iran, Brunei, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The death penalty for apostasy is apparent in a range of Islamic states, including Iran,[122][123] Egypt,[124] Pakistan,[124] Somalia,[125] United Arab Emirates,[126] Qatar,[127] Yemen[127] and Saudi Arabia.
[130] In northwestern Syria in 2013 during the Syrian Civil War, jihadists beheaded and defaced a sculpture of Al-Maʿarri (973–1058 CE), one of several outspoken Arab and Persian anti-religious intellectuals who lived and taught during the Islamic Golden Age.
Novelist Alaa Hamad was convicted of publishing a book that contained atheistic ideas and apostasy that were considered to threaten national unity and social peace.
A person that commits the same offense several times is subject to imprisonment for up to 10 years or a "fine not exceeding Taka 20 lac (BDT 2 Million), or with both.
Some Bangladeshi atheists have been assassinated by various local Islamic extremist organizations, but the Government has taken strict measures and has since banned the Islamist groups.
[144] In 2012, Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan was beaten by a mob, lost his job as a civil servant and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for expressing his views online.
Declaration of faith in Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Zoroastrianism is required to avail of certain rights such as applying for entrance to university,[147][148] or becoming a lawyer, with the position of judge reserved for Muslims (and men) only.
[159] Sanal Edamaruku, atheist and founder-president of Rationalist International, had to flee India in 2012, when the Catholic Secular Forum pressed charges against him under Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code, which penalises outraging the religious sentiments of any citizen.
[161] In Indian society, rationalists have been generally considered undeclared atheists because they tend to label all sorts of religious activities as superstition.
Regular Freemasonry insists, among other things, that a volume of scripture is open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, and that the discussion of religion is banned.
[166] In other countries, especially in Europe, some Scouting organizations may be secularist or religiously neutral (such as Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France, Corpo Nazionale Giovani Esploratori ed Esploratrici Italiani and the Baden-Powell Service Association in the United States[167]).