Thirteen Countries Execute Atheists
I didn’t finish a longer post, so I thought I’d post a sketch I did earlier today. Noel, who, coincidentally, just returned home from Somalia a few days ago, put up a post, alerting atheists who are Considering Visiting Muslim Majority Countries. He gave a link to the Godless Spellchecker’s blog in which GS posted translations of what people are saying in Arabic about atheists on Twitter. Back on Noel’s blog, the very funny (and occasionally offensive – you’ve been warned. Don’t blame me if you click the link.) Armchair Pontificator made a quip and I drew a quick cartoon. Being caught postless, I decided I might as well post my cartoon here.
It has often occurred to me that there is no way to know how many people are really Muslim in countries where there are severe punishments for atheism. The thirteen countries that execute atheists are Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, UAE and Yemen. Another four, Bahrain, Gambia, Jordan and Kuwait, imprison atheists. In Nigeria, it should be noted, the constitution protects freedom of thought, but rights are often violated by local governments and non-state militias and Islamist groups. Hence, I put different words on the picture.
fojap 
I didn’t realize you’d made these cartoons yourself. Excellent. Oh. and I take great offense to being told I’m occasionally offensive on my blog. I’m ALWAYS offensive on my blog, at least I try to be. So there. Hee Haw! 🙂
Well, I was going to say that you were highly offensive, but I was afraid you’d think I was sucking up to you.
Now you’ve made me blush. 🙂
I drew the picture in a program called Artweaver. There’s both a free and paid version. I find it’s better than Photoshop for drawing. However, I saved the picture and brought it into Photoshop to do the word balloons because I find that Artweaver’s text tool isn’t great. One nice thing about Artweaver is that even for the paid version the price is very reasonable, 29 euros.
I need to check that out. I can be even more offensive by drawing my own pics.
I like those cartoons, especially what they are saying or not saying.
Killing in the name of love is a concept I need help understanding
Malaysia executes for atheism? When I visited in 2014 I was pleasantly surprised as to how tolerant it was. Especially for a country that still has the death penalty for atheism…
Hi. Thanks for stopping by. Actually, it wouldn’t be “still.” I’ve never been there, but from what I’ve read the practice of Islam there has been getting more conservative. It’s only 60% Muslim, which puts it in a rather unique category worldwide. I tried looking up some facts after reading your comment and turned it into another post. In the post, I couldn’t find any example of a person actually being executed, so I’m not sure whether or not it’s quite right to say that they have the death penalty if it’s on the books but never applied.
Thanks for clearing it up. Maybe it’s a law they haven’t abolished, like the laws in London that state it’s illegal for a taxi to not carry a bale of hay!
13 countries I won’t be traveling to, I guess.
Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, don’t encourage non-Muslim visitors anyway. Countries with a tourist industry, like Malaysia, wouldn’t apply it to a non-Muslim visitor, so it probably won’t factor in your decision.
I actually wouldn’t mind going to a few those of places myself.
Tentatively planning for Turkey this fall – should be fairly benign as long as I don’t get too close to the south east border….