Reply to Association of your values with Devil / Satan: is it offensive?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It certainly doesn’t offend me, an atheist, because Satan doesn’t exist. [/quote]
I believe that you should consider the intent of the people saying the word rather than your interpretation of the word. For religious people, Satan / Devil is the worst thing that they can think of. If you were in the middle ages, you would be tortured to change your belief system, then burned alive. There are parts of the world where atheists face similar type of treatment at the hands of religious people. [/quote]

Could you list the countries where atheists are burned and tortured? I’ve never heard of this.[/quote]

Thank you for your interest in the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_for_non-violent_offenses#Apostasy_and_blasphemy[/quote]

Apostasy and blasphemy
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Further information: Apostasy in Islam by country and Blasphemy law
See also: Discrimination against atheists
Apostasy means renouncing/abandoning/leaving one's religion for another religion (known as conversion) or irreligion (known as deconversion or disaffiliation, including to stances such as atheism, agnosticism and freethought). In the 21st century, this is considered a crime only for Muslims, in a limited number of countries and territories (25 as of 2014 according to Pew Research Center, all of which were located in Africa or Asia[2]), about ten of whom have the death penalty on it, while the other jurisdictions may inflict less severe punishments such as imprisonment, a fine or loss of some civil rights (in Jordan all civil rights), notably one's marriage and child custody.[2] Converting a Muslim to another religion or irreligion is sometimes also criminalised as being an 'accomplice to apostasy'.[3] Apostasy is not known to be a crime (let alone a capital crime) for adherents of any other religion in any country in the 21st century.[4] Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) includes the 'freedom to change [one's] religion or belief', therefore any obstruction of apostasy is considered a human rights violation in international law.[4]

Blasphemy means insult, defamation or desecration/sacrilege of something that or someone who is deemed holy in one or more religions. Unlike apostasy, the religious status of the person suspected/accused of blasphemy is generally regarded as irrelevant; for example, a Muslim may be accused of 'blaspheming' a thing or person deemed holy by some Christians (or Christian organisation or authority), and vice versa, even if that thing or person is not 'holy' to the suspect. In the 21st century, blasphemy is much more widely criminalised than apostasy, in jurisdictions around the world, and is influenced by several religions including Christianity, Islam and Judaism.[2] As of July 2020, blasphemy could be punished by the death penalty in eight countries, all of which were Muslim-majority.[5]

In some jurisdictions influenced by Sharia (Islamic law), apostasy and blasphemy are closely linked offences. 'Apostasy', or 'public expression of apostasy', is sometimes considered a form/'evidence' of 'blasphemy' and is then prosecuted as such, even though 'apostasy' itself may not be a crime (example: Pakistan).[6] Likewise, 'blasphemy' is sometimes considered a form/'evidence' of 'apostasy' and is then prosecuted as such, even though 'blasphemy' itself may not be a (capital) crime (example: Qatar).[7] Furthermore, apostasy and blasphemy tend to be closely legally linked to atheism. Formally, being an atheist (or otherwise non-religious person) itself is not an offence in any country, but in practice it is difficult to be an atheist without being able to become an atheist (which is legally impossible for Muslims in many countries, some of which impose capital punishment) or while needing to keep it a secret to everyone that one is an atheist. Therefore, although there is a technical difference between becoming an atheist (a form of apostasy), being an atheist (atheism), and expressing that one is an atheist (which is considered a form of 'blasphemy' by some), some commentators frame the legal situation such that 'being an atheist is punishable by death'[8] or that 'atheism is punishable by the death penalty' in some countries.[9]

From your link, it seems like Muslim countries are the only countries who do this.[/quote]

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