The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) was established in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
in 1970, when The Rationalist Association of South Australia decided upon a name change to better declare its basic philosophy, namely
atheism.
[
The foundation defines atheism as "the acceptance that there is no credible scientific or factually reliable evidence for the existence of a god, gods, or the supernatural." It rejects belief in a deity, the supernatural and superstition in general. The foundation considers ]religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
unnecessary and often harmful. It favours the scientific method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...
, and the discovery of physical law
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) ...
s, as the best way to understand the truth about reality. The foundation believes that humans are rational and ethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
beings, capable of making responsible and creative contributions to society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
.
Aims
The objects of the Foundation are:
# To encourage and to provide a means of expression for informed free-thought on philosophical and social issues.
# To safeguard the rights of all non-religious people.
# To serve as a focal point for the community of non-religious people.
# To offer verifiable information in place of superstition and to promote logic and reason.
# To promote atheism.
Activism
The foundation organised the 2010 Global Atheist Convention in conjunction with Atheist Alliance International
Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is a non-profit advocacy organization committed to raising awareness and educating the public about atheism. It does this by supporting atheist and freethought organizations around the world through promotin ...
, and also helped organise the second Global Atheist Convention in 2012.
The foundation ran a campaign encouraging people to mark "No religion" on the 2011 Australian Census
The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census nig ...
. Then-President David Nicholls stated that many people "simply marked down the religion they were born into, despite not now being religious people at all", and that as census results are used to gauge public funding to religious groups, this was giving religion more tax-payers' money than its entitlement.[ The 2011 census results showed that the percentage of people declaring no religion had risen from 18.7% in 2006 to 22.3%, becoming the second largest response. The AFA ran a similar campaign for the 2016 census; results showed the percentage of people declaring no religion rose to 30.1%, becoming the top response. In 2016, then-President ]Kylie Sturgess
Kylie Sturgess is a past President of the Atheist Foundation of Australia, an award-winning blogger, author and independent podcast host of ''The Token Skeptic Podcast''. A Philosophy and Religious Education teacher with over ten years experi ...
objected to non-religious individuals answering with joke answers in the census in response to the Jedi census phenomenon
In some national population censuses which include a question on religious identity, media report numerous respondents giving their religion as Jedi (or "Jedi Knight") after the quasi-religious order in the ''Star Wars'' science fiction franch ...
, as this would result in an underrepresentation of non-religious Australians.
See also
*Council of Australian Humanist Societies
The Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) is an umbrella organisation for Australian humanist societies. It was founded in 1965. It is affiliated with Humanists International. The official symbol of CAHS (and all member organisations ...
*Human rights in Australia
Human rights in Australia have largely been developed by the democratically-elected Australian Parliament through laws in specific contexts (rather than a stand-alone, abstract bill of rights) and safeguarded by such institutions as the indepen ...
*Irreligion in Australia
Atheism, agnosticism, scepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general irreligion are increasing in Australia. Post-war Australia has become a highly secularised country. Religion does not play a major role in the lives of much of the popul ...
*Religion in Australia
Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, though its share of total population has declined significantly over the past several decades. Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia of 1901 states, "The Commonwealth shall not make any ...
- includes Australian Bureau of Statistics census information relating to religion and belief.
*Rationalist Society of Australia
The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) promotes the interests of rationalists nationally in Australia. Originally formed as the Victorian Rationalist Association, the society originated in a meeting of freethinkers in the University of Melbou ...
*The Secular Party of Australia
The Secular Party of Australia is a minor Australian political party, founded in January 2006 and registered as a federal political party in 2010.
*The National Secular Lobby
*Major world religions
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of ...
*List of secularist organizations
Irreligious organizations promote the view that moral standards should be based solely on naturalistic considerations, without reference to supernatural concepts (such as God or an afterlife), any desire to do good for a reward after death, or ...
References
External links
*
Human Rights Brief No. 3
Assessment of international law pertaining to freedom of religion and belief from Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atheist Foundation Of Australia
Atheism in Australia
Secularist organizations
Atheist organizations
Organizations established in 1970
Skeptic organisations in Australia
1970 establishments in Australia