I will commence a speaking tour of the United States this week . And I am looking forward to meeting friends and colleagues and renewing tie
I will commence a speaking tour of the United States this week. And I am looking forward to meeting friends and colleagues and renewing ties and partnerships. My tour will focus on one message and one message only: We can do more for humanism. We can do better for humanity. Yes, those who subscribe to the humanist outlook can do more, and make the world a better place, furthering the cause of reason and compassion. This message is not a slogan to attract attention but an invitation to all freethinking minds to rise to the challenge of promoting humanism and atheism in this 21st century. It is a wake-up call to all atheists, humanists, and freethinkers to relaunch their efforts to promote the values of humanity, rationality, and secularity. For an outlook that finds its fulfillment in this one life that we have, it is imperative that humanists full-heartedly embrace this challenge. While humanists, atheists, and freethinkers have made significant progress in past centuries, the progress has been in a section of the world. The progress has mainly been in the western part of the world. The gains of humanism have been insignificant and invisible in Africa, where I come from because the forces of humanism and secularism have been unable to match the power and influence of religion, especially the imperialist faiths of Christianity and Islam. Forces of theocracy, religious extremism, and nationalism pose a mortal threat to democracy and human rights, including the rights and humanity of nonbelievers. Blasphemy and apostasy laws are in force in many African countries. Religious politicians use them to deny the rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression of minority religious and belief groups. In many countries, Christian and Islamic theocrats have hijacked the government. They promote religious indoctrination in schools, oppose secularism, and seek to enforce religious laws and doctrines as state laws. Christian and Islamic theocrats control the parliaments and use this pillar of democracy to uphold the will of their god, not the people. They pass obnoxious bills, further religious dogmas, and undermine the rights of women and LGBTIQ persons.
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My tour starts on the West Coast, where I will deliver a talk on Questionstorm: Why critical thinking matters for Africa. Critical thinking is an existential necessity in the contemporary world.
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