{"id":75093,"date":"2023-12-14T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/news\/2023\/12\/freedom-of-thought-report-2023-humanist-commitment-to-democracy\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:08:26","slug":"freedom-of-thought-report-2023-humanist-commitment-to-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/news\/message\/2023\/12\/freedom-of-thought-report-2023-humanist-commitment-to-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of Thought Report 2023: Humanist commitment to democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 12th edition of the <em>Freedom of Thought Report<\/em> sheds light on the legal and human rights situation of non-religious people worldwide. The report finds that humanists are discriminated against in 186 countries. The forms of discrimination and disadvantage are manifold:  <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Government representatives or state agencies openly marginalize non-religious people or incite hatred or violence against them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is illegal or not recognized to call yourself an atheist or non-religious person.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is a state religion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Non-religious people are not allowed to hold at least certain offices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The legislation of the state is derived in whole or in part from religious law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blasphemy is punishable by law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Religious courts interfere in family or moral matters.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is difficult or illegal to organize openly humanistically.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>State-funded schools offer compulsory religious education without any secular or humanist alternative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>The <em>Freedom of Thought Report<\/em>, on the other hand, shows numerous inspiring examples of humanist engagement worldwide. &#8220;At a time when the foundations of democracy are being challenged around the world, it is crucial to recognize the role that humanists play in defending and revitalizing democratic institutions,&#8221; explains Andrew Copson, President of Humanists International. &#8220;Whether they are championing secularism, promoting human rights, defending LGBTI+ rights or fighting against discrimination and inequality, humanists are at the forefront of these crucial battles.&#8221;  <\/p>\n\n<p>Katrin Raczynski, Federal Executive Board of the HVD, explains: &#8220;The tireless commitment of humanists worldwide inspires us all. We must continue to work together to defend and strengthen democracy. We will no longer tolerate global discrimination against non-religious people. The <em>Freedom of Thought Report<\/em> is a spur to action for us all.&#8221;   <\/p>\n\n<p>The 12th <em>Freedom of Thought Report<\/em> can be downloaded from the <a href=\"https:\/\/humanists.international\/2023\/12\/humanists-on-the-front-line-of-democracies-globally-new-report-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <em>Humanists International<\/em> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our partner organization Humanists International has published the Freedom of Thought Report 2023. The report examines the freedom and human rights of humanists, atheists and non-religious people worldwide. The focus of this year&#8217;s report is on the defense of democracy.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":41408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-message"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75096,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75093\/revisions\/75096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanismus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}