Timothy Taylor: Terrorist?

I’ve made it no secret from the beginning on these pages that I am a lifelong atheist, a non-believer through and through. My book: “Authority!” critiques the entire Holy Bible and thereby makes the case for atheism. As far as I’m concerned all religion is entirely imaginary, an ominous superstitious deception in consciousness; presenting a clear and present danger to civilization and the human condition. I’d like to see all of it laughed out of existence in my lifetime.

Does that make me a terrorist?

Absolutely, according to the many statist governments in this world that embrace religion because religion is the foundation for statism and any expression of outright rejection of religion is perceived a threat to statist governments.

Atheism is a threat to Authority!

Any intellectual logical threat to blind Authority is perceived as terrorism.

Religious belief is declining in the world today. That is why many statist governments are taking steps to portray non-believers and secularists as a danger to society and even as terrorists, according to a report issued recently by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). These governments are initiating "hate campaigns" against atheists.

"The overwhelming majority of countries fail to respect the rights of atheists and freethinkers" as set out in U.N. treaties, says the report, adding that 13 states, all of them Muslim, had made apostasy or blasphemy against religion a capital offense.

Imagine that! You can get the death penalty in some courtries simply for not using your imagination to believe the imaginary. Even in Russia today, for example where communist ideology has been replaced by Orthodox Christianity, any public expression of atheist views can be equated with blasphemy and criminalized.

Is that hypocrisy or what? The old Soviet Union persecuted religion as criminal behavior after the communist revolution – it was officially an atheist nation then -- but now they are persecuting atheists.

The "Freedom of Thought Report," which is published annually on International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, said the past year had been marked by a surge in the number of officials and political leaders agitating against non-religious people "in terms that would normally be associated with hate speech".

A Saudi law on terror enacted in January banned "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion," the report said, and Turkey's president equated atheism with terror. The Malaysian Prime Minister has branded humanism and secularism as "deviant" and a "threat to Islam and the state." In Egypt, the new military-backed government described atheism as "a threat to society."

Even in Britain, where belief in Christianity, the state religion has been declining rapidly in recent years, the Ministry of Education has dropped atheism and humanism from religious studies in state schools; this despite the fact that roughly 13 percent of the world's population is firmly atheist and another 23 percent not religious.

If secularism equates to terror then the United States Constitution is a terrorist manifesto, 36% of the planet’s population constitute a threat to society, and...

Timothy Taylor is a terrorist.