Campaign for Free Expression

Are there topics you shouldn’t be allowed to discuss?

Some governments and institutions—and even some individuals—want to keep certain topics off limits.  This is especially true with religion.  In many places, discussions and questions about religion are discouraged, even punished.  But how can we come to our own conclusions about religion if we can't freely examine and discuss it?

The Campaign for Free Expression is a CFI initiative to focus efforts and attention on one of the most crucial components of freethought: the right of individuals to express their viewpoints, opinions, and beliefs about all subjects—especially religion.

Various United Nations bodies, including the UN’s Human Rights Council, have recently adopted resolutions condemning so-called “defamation” of religion.  These resolutions lend credibility to efforts to suppress dissent and criticism, especially in Islamic countries, but Western European countries are also debating laws that would criminalize religiously offensive statements.  For example, Ireland recently enacted a new blasphemy law that prohibits publication of material “insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion.”

CFI believes we must increase public awareness of these threats to freedom of expression, discuss and develop plans to prevent curtailment of free expression, and demonstrate that people care about their rights to free expression and are eager to exercise them.

EXPRESS YOURSELF!

To encourage free expression and to emphasize the importance of this fundamental right, CFI and its sister organization, The Council for Secular Humanism, are sponsoring three contests.


1.  Blasphemy Contest:  Test your blasphemy skills!  (Blasphemy: n. the act of denying or scoffing at God or God's alleged attributes.)  Submit a phrase, poem, or statement that would be or would have been considered blasphemous.  Entries may take any form (e.g. haiku), but must be 20 words or less.  The top 5 winners will receive CFI t-shirts with their submission printed on the shirt.  In addition to the shirt, the first place winner will also receive a mug imprinted with the winning phrase, recognition in Free Inquiry magazine, general publicity, and, naturally, eternal damnation.

UPDATE: Congratulations to our Blasphemy Contest Winners!

Grand Prize: "Faith is no reason." - Submitted by Ken Peters of California.

Additional Winners:

  • "There's no religion like no religion." - Submitted by Daniel Boles of Thailand.
  • "I wouldn't even follow your god on Twitter." - Submitted by Michael Hein of South Carolina.
  • "The reason religious beliefs need protection from ridicule is that they are ridiculous." - Submitted by Michael Nugent of Ireland
  • "I survived the God virus." - Submitted by Perry Bulwer of British Columbia, Canada.


2.  Free Expression Essay Contest:

Students enrolled in an accredited college or university are invited to submit an essay about "The Importance of Free Expression and Its Limits (If Any)."  Each entry must address the question of what limits national governments or recognized international bodies, such as the United Nations, may justifiably place on free expression.  First prize is $2,000 (USD); second prize is $500.


3.  Cartoon Contest: 

As the great Danish cartoon controversy of 2005 and 2006 showed, few media can speak so eloquently, or so pointedly, on sensitive topics as a cartoon.  The Council for Secular Humanism—publisher of Free Inquiry, the first major U.S. publication to republish a selection of the Danish cartoons—invites professional and amateur artists to submit their sharpest, cleverest, and most ingenious creations touching on that most sensitive subject: religion.

Amateur cartoonists can compete for prizes of $300 (grand prize), $125 (second prize), and $75 (third prize).  Professional cartoonists will compete for $2500 (grand prize), $1250 (second prize), and $750 (third prize).  Winning entries in both categories will also be published in Free Inquiry and online.

  • Click here for full details and the rules of the contest.
  • DEADLINE: January 15, 2010.

Cartoon contest entries will be judged by a panel of volunteer judges led by Steve Benson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Republic, an avowed atheist, a former Mormon—and grandson of the late Ezra Taft Benson, a president of the Mormon Church.

What Else Can You Do?

www.pleaseblock.us — The Council has launched a special website featuring reports on censorship attempts and controversies around the world.  The site also includes original material that would be suppressed under the laws of some countries.  Check it out, follow updates on Twitter, and submit censorship stories that you find in the news (or are oddly missing from the news).

Blasphemy Day International 2009 — Blasphemy Day International is a campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a day to promote free speech and to stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of murder, litigation, or reprisal.  The event was created as a reaction against those who would seek to take away the right to satirize and criticize a particular set of beliefs that have been given a privileged status over other beliefs.  Join the campaign and spread the word to your friends!  Then, hold your own Blasphemy Day event.  Visit the CFI On Campus page for event ideas about what you can do on your campus or in your community.


“Preserving the right to uncensored expression is important not only because it is indispensable for an objective examination of truth claims—it is no accident that dictatorships uniformly suppress speech—but also because it has intrinsic value.  Human dignity requires the freedom to express oneself as an individual.” — Ronald A. Lindsay, CFI President and CEO

Please consider makine a donation to help support this important cause.
Click here to learn more.

For more information about Blasphemy Day and the Campaign for Free Expression,
please contact info@centerforinquiry.net.