The Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, UAAR) is the only nationwide association of

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

and

agnostics Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is independent from

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

or lobbies and numbers around 3,000 members. Its logo references the

Happy Human The Happy Human is an icon that has been adopted as an international symbol of secular humanism. Created by Dennis Barrington, the figure was the winning design in a competition arranged by Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) ...

symbol, in common with other humanist organisations.

History

UAAR was founded in 1986 to promote the diffusion of atheist and agnostic ideas, campaign for a thoroughly secular state, and struggle against any privilege granted to the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

religion and against any

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

of nonbelievers.

Activity

Between December 1996 and July 2019, UAAR regularly published a bi-monthly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, ''L'Ateo'' (''The Atheist''). In January 2020 it started publishing a new bi-monthly magazine, ''Nessun Dogma''. Besides seeking contacts with government representatives, UAAR is prepared to initiate legal actions to obtain the full acknowledgement for atheism and atheists' rights. They have, for instance, obtained recognition of the right for those

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

as infants to be considered no longer Catholic if they wish. The UAAR has held Debaptism Day and Darwin Day annually. The UAAR has pushed for the removal of

crucifixes A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

in the classrooms of state-run schools, a position which was upheld by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

in November 2009. In 2014 and 2015 The UAAR condemned rulings against teachers who removed crucifixes. In 2009 the association funded research to see if the

Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...

could be reproduced. In 2010 the association campaigned for stricter regulation of when church bells in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

were allowed to ring. The UAAR has been campaigning against Italy's

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

laws since at least 2017. In 2019 the UAAR condemned a ruling which charged an Italian photographer with

for comparing the Catholic Church to a

masochist Masochist may refer to: * Sadomasochism, giving or receiving pleasure from the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation Music * The Prophet (musician) (born 1968), Dutch DJ and producer who has recorded as The Masochist Albums * ''Masochist ...

club during a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

interview. UAAR is a member of the

Humanists International Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...

(HI) and

European Humanist Federation The European Humanist Federation (EHF, french: Fédération Humaniste Européenne, FHE), officially abbreviated as EHF-FHE, is an umbrella of more than 60 humanist and secularist organisations from 25 European countries. Founded in Prague in July ...

(EHF), and collaborates with other

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

organisations on international issues. Among UAAR's main goals is the abrogation of article 7 of the

Italian Constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

, which recognises the

Lateran Treaties The Lateran Treaty ( it, Patti Lateranensi; la, Pacta Lateranensia) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle t ...

between

and

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. The UAAR has also challenged the Catholic Church on issues such as

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

The Atheist Bus Campaign

In January 2009, the organisation promoted an

atheist bus campaign The Atheist Bus Campaign was an advertising campaign in 2008 and 2009 that aimed to place "peaceful and upbeat" messages about atheism on transport media in Britain, in response to evangelical Christian advertising. It was created by comedy wr ...

inspired by the similar initiative of the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

. The campaign, due to start on 4 February 2009, was symbolically launched in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, on the occasion of the nomination of the city's

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Angelo Bagnasco Angelo Bagnasco (; born 14 January 1943) is an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Genoa from 2006 to 2020. He was President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) from 2007 to 2017 and was elevated to the rank of ...

, as president of the

Italian Episcopal Conference The Italian Episcopal Conference ( it, Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) or CEI is the episcopal conference of the Italian bishops of the Catholic Church, the official assembly of the bishops in Italy. The conference was founded in 1971 and carrie ...

(CEI). The original slogan chosen for the Italian campaign read: "The bad news is that God does not exist. The good news is that you don't need it". On 16 January 2009 IGPDecaux, the company holding licenses for ads on public transport in Genoa, refused to give authorization to the atheist bus campaign on the grounds that it may "offend the moral, civic and religious convictions of the public". The UAAR changed the slogan for the campaign to "The good news is that

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

doesn’t exist. The bad news is that you can only say this about Zeus", but this slogan was also rejected due to the design including “UAAR, free not to believe in God”.

Antonio Catricalà Antonio Catricalà (7 February 1952 – 24 February 2021) was an Italian public manager, politician, professor, lawyer, and magistrate. Biography Catricalà graduated with honors in law from the University of Rome "La Sapienza". He later won t ...

, the then head of the Italian National Authority for Fair Trading and Competition, announced that the Authority filed a case against the Atheist Bus initiative because of the potentially "dangerous and mendacious nature" of the ads. As a reaction, the UAAR launched a new campaign in Genoa with a different slogan to comply with the advertising authority's rules: "The good news is that there are millions of atheists in Italy. The excellent news is they believe in freedom of speech".Alt URL
/ref> Subsequently, the UAAR also ran newspaper ads containing the original slogan.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1991 establishments in Italy Atheism in Italy Atheist organizations Organizations established in 1991 Skeptic organisations in Italy