It can be a difficult and dangerous world for atheists. In many countries, abandoning or denying the official religion of the state can result in imprisonment, torture or various draconian restrictions of rights including denial of the right to inherit or own property, or to receive an education. In 13 countries apostates can be subjected to the death penalty.

According to the latest report of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, in many countries, atheists are forced to lie to obtain their official documents without which it is impossible to go to university, receive medical treatment, travel abroad or drive.

In the United States, a social and political climate prevails in which atheists and the non-religious are made to feel like lesser Americans, or non-Americans. In at least seven U.S. states, constitutional provisions bar atheists from public office and one state has a law that bars an atheist from testifying as a witness at a trial.

The fact is, discrimination against atheists, both overtly and covertly, is more pervasive than the religious suggest.

In 1948 the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which sets out basic human rights and freedoms. However, it is not legally binding and while it explicitly confers the freedom to practice a religion of choice, it does not explicitly grant the freedom to have no religion. Consequently, it is of little help to the atheists.

All international human rights laws and conventions that now exist, spell out the rights of the religious to practice their religions as they see fit. The freedom of religion is well protected. What is not well protected is the freedom from religion. Accordingly, we intend to catalog the rights we as atheists should enjoy, and we intend to take the resultant Universal Declaration of Atheist Rights to the United Nations and other international bodies. We believe these organizations need to urgently and courageously defend our rights as non-believers, rights that require that religious practices not be imposed on us by either state or non-state interests.

This is as important as it is long overdue