«Once again, public policy is powerless over requests for special permissions coming from the Catholic Church. The government has given priority to religious meetings while other types of meetings continue to be banned (theaters, book presentations, meetings in social and cultural centers, cinemas, right down to education in public schools). Under pressure from the bishops, the government implemented a special regime for religious meetings, a special regime prohibited by sentence no. 45/1957 of the Constitutional Court. Freedom of assembly should… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Press release
Allocate the 8×1000 portion of tax returns under State competence to investments in the national health service.
This is the request at the heart of the petition launched today on change.org by the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR). “With the current opaque 8×1000 mechanism, repeatedly condemned by the Court of Auditors, every year the state gives religious institutions a share that exceeds one billion euros”, reads the text of the petition: “Sign if you want more than a billion euros a year to remain to the State and be used for research and health, without paying… Read more »
Holy Mass or Public Health: Which Should We Protect First?
«At a time when everybody is undergoing heavy restrictions on personal freedoms, Italian catholic bishops say they “can’t tolerate” any restriction on their ability to perform religious services in public, and are putting pressure on our Government to revoke the limitations in place. But freedom of worship must not prevail over the common good. And bishops requiring privileges which put people in danger is outrageous.» This is how Union of Atheists and Rationalist Agnostics’ Secretary Roberto Grendene commented on the… Read more »
The Uaarbest graduate thesis award is back
The graduate thesis award of the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Uaar) reaches its fourteenth edition and this year it will be given to students who graduate with a final thesis of particular value which is consistent with the social purposes of the association, mainly the protection of secular civil rights, freedom of thought and secularism of the state. The three prizes of 1,000€ each for master’s degrees, specialist degrees or old graduate degree, awarded after 2007 were extended last… Read more »
Good without God. And we can say it.
“We can only be happy and satisfied about this order by the Supreme Court of Cassation, accepting our appeal and recognizing our right to be atheists and agnostics and to say it loud. As trivial as this sounds, it took seven years of legal battles to be put black on white.” With this comment Adele Orioli, in charge of legal initiatives at the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, Uaar), hailed the order… Read more »
Uaar: more science and less Vatican on public television
“We have a RAI Vatican Channel (public information programming), religious tv series, a dedicated bishop’s channel, Vatican correspondents, TV reporting which almost always opens with irrelevant statements by the pope. And if that wasn’t already enough, now get the daily mass on RAI 1. There has never been a more appropriate time than now for our country to deserve a plurality of information, promoting research and the rational discussionof problems and solutions and instead what State TV thinks we need… Read more »
Coronavirus Emergency, Churches Are Open: a Scandal, Despite the Law
«It just seems that the only independent and sovereign thing in this land is that state inside the state which is the Church. Which doesn’t hesitate to contravene the health provisions that apply to mere mortals. And, even worse, in fact instigates the commission of crimes and behaviors against the public health, and especialy against the safety of the most fragile persons. Our President of the Republic has been clear: “Italy is going through a difficult situation” and “in… Read more »
The government helps persecuted minorities, but only if they are Christian. The outrage of the Uaar
«We are appalled. The Budget Law has established a fund intended to support persecuted minorities in crisis areas andthat is something we have nothing to complain about. Too bad the only minorities protected by the provision are Christian ones. To weave this initiative together with the general public’s attitude towards themigrant issue, you could say that the government adopting the policy‘let’s help them at home, and only if they are Christians’. Furthermore, let’s consider the fact that among the countries that persecute… Read more »