The Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, UAAR) is the only nationwide association of atheists and agnostics in Italy. 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 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 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 as infants to be considered no longer Catholic if they wish. The UAAR has held

Debaptism Most Christian churches see baptism as a once-in-a-lifetime event that can be neither repeated nor undone. They hold that those who have been baptized remain baptized, even if they renounce the Christian faith by adopting a non-Christian religion o ...

Day and

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

Day annually. The UAAR has pushed for the removal of crucifixes in the classrooms of state-run schools, a position which was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in

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 club during a radio 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 (EHF), and collaborates with other humanist organisations on international issues. Among UAAR's main goals is the abrogation of article 7 of the Italian Constitution, which recognises the Lateran Treaties between Italy and Vatican City. The UAAR has also challenged the Catholic Church on issues such as abortion.

The Atheist Bus Campaign

In January 2009, the organisation promoted an atheist bus campaign inspired by the similar initiative of the British Humanist Association. The campaign, due to start on 4 February 2009, was symbolically launched in Genoa, 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 (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 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, 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