Natural disasters are devastating enough - religious repression makes them catastrophic.

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Our Unbelief Brief covers Afghanistan’s series of devastating earthquakes and how the Taliban’s theocratic rule has worsened the suffering. Afghanistan's continued descent further into religious authoritarianism doesn’t stop there. A teacher now faces the death penalty for saying modern science is more important than religious study, and poets are forbidden from writing love poetry or criticizing Taliban leadership. Plus, we share a much-anticipated update on our whyNotislam Billboard Campaign.

Unbelief Brief

Devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan over the past week have killed at least 2,200 people (and probably many more, as rescuers have yet to reach [[link removed]] “hundreds” of more remote villages). However, the death toll could have been much lower if not for the theocratic backwardness of the Taliban. The strict prohibition on any kind of physical contact between unrelated men and women has meant that many of the men engaged in rescue operations are unwilling to rescue women from the rubble [[link removed]] The extreme scarcity [[link removed]] of women rescuers and doctors, also owing to the Taliban’s religious repression, makes it near impossible for women to be helped in these conditions. This deplorable state of affairs is directly traceable to the deeply-rooted Islamic fundamentalism that touches all aspects of Afghan life.

Meanwhile, another blasphemy case [[link removed]] in Afghanistan is headed to an appeals court (to the extent that courts mean anything to the Taliban). A teacher named Abdul Aleem Khamosh allegedly stated to his students that “modern sciences were more important than religious studies.” For uttering this statement, he was sentenced to death. Given the brutality of the Taliban, there appears very little chance this “appeal” offers any real hope to Khamosh, who has done nothing wrong.

It is deeply disturbing to think that simply declaring science superior to religion could result in a death sentence and only confirms the Taliban’s intolerance and backwardness. It is also no wonder that this same regime has just recently issued a new prohibition [[link removed]]: poets in the country are no longer permitted to criticize the Taliban’s leader (although, this is a given due to an atmosphere of severe oppression and coercion)—or write love poetry. It is difficult to overstate the inhumanity of a regime that views the latter as a threat.

Campaign Update: whyNOTIslam Billboard Launch

Our whyNOTIslam billboard campaign has already driven over 5,000 visitors to the site since launch. The billboards will remain up until September 21 in northern [[link removed]] and central [[link removed]] New Jersey, so there’s still time to catch them if you’re in New Jersey.

Looking ahead, we want to hear from you - where should we host our billboards next? Share your ideas and help us decide where to take this campaign.

More importantly, to help us expand our reach, we need your support: DONATE now [[link removed]] to keep these billboards up and help us put them up in new cities. Every dollar brings us closer to the next launch!

Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Share your feedback at [email protected].

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