The European Secularist Network strongly and unequivocally condemns the assassination attempt against Salman Rushdie, and expresses solidarity with him.
This cowardly aggression, motivated by religious fanaticism, is an attack on hard-won freedoms: freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of expression, and the freedom of human creation.
These freedoms cannot flourish in societies subject to the power of religions and their intolerance. No one can claim to impose their beliefs and dogmas on others.
Secularism is essential to the development of a democratic political system. As the guarantor of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the secular state protects the freedom to believe, not to believe and to change one’s beliefs. It must speak out clearly against the threats and intimidation of those who promote obscurantism and fanaticism.
The European Secularist Network is a network of associations from different European countries that share the same struggle for secular values: freedom, equality, solidarity. We are committed to the promotion and defence of secularism as a universal principle, guaranteeing individual freedoms and the peaceful coexistence of philosophical opinions and religious beliefs.
