Article 18 of both the United Nations Human Rights Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects not only the right to believe in and practice a religion and to change religion, but also the right to hold nontheistic beliefs.

Despite these protections, many members of nonreligious communities’ face government repression, social intolerance, restrictions on freedom of thought, belief and expression, and pervasive discrimination because of their lack of religion or absence of belief in a God.

Rachel Deitch, Director of Policy and Social Justice with the American Humanist Association joins us to discuss conditions of non-religious communities around the world.

Read USCIRF’s Factsheet on Nonbelievers in Africa

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Rachel Deitch, Director of Policy and Social Justice, American Humanist Association

Kirsten Lavery, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF