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Do atheists have people they regard as martyrs - people who died for their lack of faith?
Lots of people have been slaughtered because of their refusal to support a specific faith, but most of them were clinging to their own specific faiths, not asserting an absence.
Are there existing records from the Inquisition? If so, and if the Inquisitors kept track of the type of apostate they were killing, distinguishing between rival faiths and no faith at all, then there we would find our martyrs.
Lots of people have been slaughtered because of their refusal to support a specific faith, but most of them were clinging to their own specific faiths, not asserting an absence.
Are there existing records from the Inquisition? If so, and if the Inquisitors kept track of the type of apostate they were killing, distinguishing between rival faiths and no faith at all, then there we would find our martyrs.
The Spanish Inquisition was politically motivated, a move to consolidate the power of the newly victorious Catholic King and Queen. Anyone not a Catholic was eventually targeted: Jews, the remaining Muslims, Protestants. I know of no mention of atheists. Whether they would have been targeted is unclear. Was the intention to persecute those who were actively against the Spanish power base or those who were not actively for it?
On the other hand, the Roman Inquisition only had authority over baptized Catholics and as far as I know they stuck with that. It was all about protecting the faith against changes.
The Spanish Inquisition was politically motivated, a move to consolidate the power of the newly victorious Catholic King and Queen. Anyone not a Catholic was eventually targeted: Jews, the remaining Muslims, Protestants. I know of no mention of atheists. Whether they would have been targeted is unclear. Was the intention to persecute those who were actively against the Spanish power base or those who were not actively for it?
On the other hand, the Roman Inquisition only had authority over baptized Catholics and as far as I know they stuck with that. It was all about protecting the faith against changes.
In that era it seems to me that anyone who denied God was probably equally in jeopardy of their life whether from Catholic, Protestant, or Muslim. As such I would think the Inquisition would not have felt the need to bother to target them, or would have considered a case of atheism an incidental open-and-shut case quickly dispensed with.
I think that prior to the last century or two most atheists, particularly if they weren't wealthy or famous enough to feel "protected", simply feigned to be some minimally compliant theist. Perhaps a deist or an impious Christian.
Indeed, I'm given to understand that the first people who openly identified as atheists lived in the 18th century. Prior to that I wonder if it was even something people permitted themselves to see themselves as. Some thoughts aren't even thinkable until some pioneering soul braves the notion openly. Until that happened, perhaps people just compartmentalized, following the outward form of some accepted religion while not actually internalizing it.
Lots of people have been slaughtered because of their refusal to support a specific faith, but most of them were clinging to their own specific faiths, not asserting an absence.
Are there existing records from the Inquisition? If so, and if the Inquisitors kept track of the type of apostate they were killing, distinguishing between rival faiths and no faith at all, then there we would find our martyrs.
Well, keep in mind that the early Christians were considered atheists by the Roman authorities, because they did not believe in the Roman gods.
A first survey of 60 countries last year showed just seven where death, often by public beheading, is the punishment for either blasphemy or apostasy - renouncing belief or switching to another religion which is also protected under U.N. accords.
But this year's more comprehensive study showed six more, bringing the full list to Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Ah. It seems that applies only to the Malay people - "Bhumiputra" - who are expected to be Muslims and are subject to Shariya law. For non -Malays - Chinese, Indians and of course, western tourists, secular law applies and so the death penalty for atheism would not apply to them.
Singapore, the island state stuck on the end of the Malay peninsula, is tolerating of all religions or none. There are one or two atheist societies angling for some premises to be put at their disposal, for atheist promulgation purposes, like the other religions (religion here refers to the rights appertaining to a a religious viewpoint) but I imagine that atheism has to increase its global visibility before such requests are taken seriously.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 02-17-2015 at 03:19 AM..
Do atheists have people they regard as martyrs - people who died for their lack of faith?
Maybe the Buddhists of India who were killed by Muslim invaders because the Buddhists weren't theists, whereas the Hindus were, even if their religion was considered not worthy of respect.
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