Two Days to Discuss Secularism in Florence, September 20-21, 2025 UAAR Florence and UAAR Lucca, with the patronage of the Municipality of Florence, have organized Giubilaic, an initiative created in order to grant back voice and space to crucial, yet seldom discussed, issues from a secular standpoint, namely: freedom of choice, civil rights, self-determination, public education, and the secular nature of institutions. Giubilaic will take place in Florence on September 20-21, 2025. Here, the date is no coincidence. UAAR wishes… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Press release
The Brian Award: the UAAR’s collateral prize at the 82nd Venice Film Festival
Since 2006, the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR) has presented an annual award for the best film screened at the Venice International Film Festival. The Brian Award, named after the famous Monty Python satirical film Brian of Nazareth, reaches its historic 20th edition this year. The award is given to the movie that best promotes a secular worldview and which, through the lens of the UAAR’s social aims, highlights the values associated with secularism: rationality and scientific thought,… Read more »
8×1000, Another Billion for the Church
Another billion for the Church. But more and more taxpayers are choosing the State and fewer and fewer are choosing the Catholic Church. The intervention category promoted by the Meloni government for drug and other addiction recoveries has failed. This year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has also published data on the 8×1000 amounts paid in 2025, referring to the 2021 tax year, and provisional data on taxpayer choices made in 2024, which will be used in the 2027… Read more »
Archbishop Zuppi’s Meddling with the 8×1000
Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference and fresh out the conclave, was displeased with the unilateral changes made by recent governments regarding the 8×1000 tax. New procedures for the use of the 8×1000 portion of personal income tax (IRPEF) allocated directly to the State have been in effect since 2024. While we await the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s release of the 2025 distribution data (2021 income), we already know that the… Read more »
Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of Nessun Dogma Magazine
If there’s a newspaper in Italy where you can read articles that offer a glimpse into a world far removed from religious conformity, it’s Nessun Dogma (“No Dogmas”), the publishing project of the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics. Every two months, Nessun Dogma – Secular Acting for a More Humane World promotes rights and secular-humanist thought, addressing non-believers and beyond. In Rome, at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne (International Women’s House) at Via della Lungara 19, UAAR is celebrating… Read more »
“Skeptics of Islam,” edited by Ralph M. Coury: the new book from the Nessun Dogma publishing project is out now.
In the nineteenth century, the Arab world was swept by a wave of modernity, challenging not only political and social structures but also religion. Liberal, radical, democratic, and secular conceptions spread. Various intellectuals engaged in a critical analysis of Islam, taking different approaches. To contribute to understanding this phenomenon, Nessun Dogma (“No Dogmas”), the publishing project of the UAAR, is publishing today Skeptics of Islam. An Anthology Edited by Ralph M. Coury, the Italian translation of Skeptics of Islam: Revisionist… Read more »
Equal dignity (and textbooks) for Alternative Activity Program: UAAR addresses schools
UAAR invites approximately 5,000 school principals to adopt Alternative Activity textbooks and will donate the books to the remaining classes. Alternative Activity textbooks are not yet a guaranteed right in Italian schools, but things are changing. Thanks to the “Books for Those Entitled to Them” campaign, which the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics launched again this year, a growing number of state primary schools have chosen to adopt the textbook for the Alternative Activity program. During the 2024/25 school… Read more »
National union of religion teachers vs. UAAR, the same hackneyed controversy every year
Following UAAR’s recent press release titled “Escape from Catholic Religion Classes Isn’t Stopping”, which received widespread coverage in the Italian media, reactions were swift from Snadir, the autonomous national union of religion teachers, which represents 34% of religious education teachers working in Italian schools. Its national secretary Orazio Ruscica responds every year in an uncoordinated manner in an attempt to discredit the Uaar. This year too, Ruscica accused us, in the online newspaper Tecnica della Scuola, of having obtained… Read more »