Petition fails in support of Indonesian atheist

[rug]

By Kimberly Winston| Religion News Service
Updated: Thursday, August 16, 4:41 PM

What was supposed to be a slam dunk for nontheists has become a slap in the face after a petition on behalf of a jailed Indonesian atheist failed to attract even one-third of the signatures it needed to gain White House attention.

The petition was launched last month by The Center for Inquiry, a humanist organization, on We The People, a government website designed to bring grass roots efforts to the attention of the White House. Petitions must garner 25,000 signatures within 30 days in to secure a government response.

The petition called for the Obama Administration to pressure the Indonesian government to free Alexander Aan, who was arrested for the criminal offense of expressing his unbelief online. The petition garnered about 8,000 signatures when it expired Thursday (Aug 16).

That failure has left many atheists, humanists, skeptics and other nonbelievers scratching their heads. If, as they believe, their community has grown in numbers, strength and organization in the last decade, why didn’t more people sign the petition?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/petition-fails-in-support-of-indonesian-atheist/2012/08/16/a1308046-e7e2-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Sad- but I am not sure this was spread as widely as it should

There certainly was not a lot of publicity given to the story, compared with others.

And this was an Americans-only petition about an injustice in another country; some people are only really interested in their own country.

At any rate, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have taken up the case.

There are other petitions that people can sign, e.g. this one on change.org to the President of Indonesia:

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/president-of-indonesia-release-of-an-atheist-sentenced-to-two-and-a-half-years-in-prison

[edhopper]

2. I have signed a few of these

from threads on DU.
I would have signed this, had I heard of it. My guess is that the publicity failed to reach enough people, not that there was no enough support. So a nonstory really. And the assessment in the last sentence is most likely wrong.
And in the end many of these petitions don't do anything. Look at the numbers for Medical Marijuana ant the WH position.

[trotsky]

3. I refuse to sign any Internet petition.

Since the last time I did, the LaRouchies ended up with the list and wouldn't stop calling me.

But clearly from this article we are intended to conclude that atheists and non-believers are a tiny insignificant minority and need to STFU.

[edhopper]

7. These are not Internet petitions

They are on the White House web site. Any one can start on there, but they need 25,000 signatures for the White House to respond.
I signed the on to get Rush Limbaugh off of Armed Forces Radio.

[Jim__]

4. Did they extend their outreach to religious organizations?

It's not clear from the article, but it only lists atheist and secular organizations:

Beside CFI, the petition had the backing of most major nontheistic groups, including The American Humanist Association, American Atheists, Atheist Alliance International and Secular Students Association, all of which issued action alerts, pushed it on social media and provided links to the petition.

My guess is that some progressive religious organizations would have supported the petition. If the goal is to try to free Aan, they should appeal to as broad of a collection of people as possible.

[cbayer]

5. I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing anything about seeking support from progressive

religious organizations. As many of them have been around much longer and are much better organized, it would have been easy to get the required number of signatures.

I also don't recall seeing a single article posted in this group about this issue except by rug. And I don't remember any article on this site soliciting support for this cause from any members of the atheist community.

This would be a great place for some secular activists to do some positive things, and this is a good example of that.

[Goblinmonger]

6. Yes, but on this board, secular activist often gets called

militant atheist.

If you haven't figured it out yet, the atheist community on DU doesn't see the Religion forum as being a very welcoming or supportive group. I know your dad and others blame us, but such is the position of privilege.