Report: Atheist Discrimination Continues Worldwide

Report: Atheist Discrimination Continues Worldwide

By David G. McAfee

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Tuesday released its 2013 Annual Report, which highlights the status of religious freedom globally and identifies those governments that are the most egregious violators and includes recognition of severe atheist discrimination in a number of countries.

The USCIRF, an independent federal advisory body created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor religious freedom abuses abroad, recommended that the U.S. government re-designate Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan as “countries of particular concern.” USCIRF also said Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam also meet the CPC threshold and should be so designated.