PRESS RELEASE, 2017-06-27

For immediate release
Atheist Freethinkers calls on Premier Couillard to make sure that Koranic verses calling for criminal action are not promoted in Quebec.

Montreal, 27^th June 2017 — Atheist Freethinkers (AFT), an association which promotes secularism and supports the rights of atheists, calls on the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, to see that verses of the Koran which call for criminal action are not promoted in the mosques and Koranic schools of Quebec. In a letter addressed to the Premier today, AFT congratulates him first for his appeal to Quebec Muslims to accept some of the responsibility for the attacks committed in the name of their religion by Islamist terrorists. However, AFT calls on the Premier to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that such a gesture is real.

The letter is accompanied by a long list of verses of the Koran which call for hatred towards all that is not Muslim, in particular towards polytheists, non-believers, apostates, Christians and Jews, as well as containing verses which promote discrimination against women, verses which incite violence and warfare, orders to kill, cruelty, inhumane and extreme punishments and verses dealing with slavery and polygamy.

AFT thus insists in its letter that Muslim communities, and especially those persons who claim to speak for those communities, must distance themselves from these criminogenic Koranic verses and must denounce such verses loudly and strongly, because they are the primary source of jihadist violence.

Of course AFT also denounces anti-Muslim violence, such as the horrific massacre at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City en January 2017. Nevertheless, there is a major difference between the two types of attack: there exists no scripture of supposedly “divine” inspiration which calls for killing Muslims, whereas the “holy” book of Islam makes precisely that sort of incitement with regard to non-Muslims.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Reach us by email
David Rand, bulletin at atheology.ca
Pierre Thibault, secretariat at atheology.ca

www.atheology.ca

Letter to the Prime Minister

List of criminogenic Koranic verses

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We are atheists. Critical thought and science lead us to the conclusion that gods, demons, reincarnation, the immortal soul and other supernatural beliefs are childish fictions. We value reason, knowledge and the material, intellectual and moral advancement of humanity. Our philosophy is materialist: there is no soul associated with the body, and as for the mind or intellect it too is material because based on neuronal processes. We are moral beings, constantly evolving and responsible for ourselves, as is the humanity to which we belong. We promote secularism and reject any religious involvement in civil institutions.