Religion

rug

(82,333 posts) Sat Aug 22, 2015, 10:25 AM Aug 2015

Turkish atheism association delivers free soup in Istanbul

August/14/2015

Turkey’s first official atheism association has begun supporting the homeless and needy in Istanbul by delivering free soup once a week.

Every Wednesday, the Atheism Association delivers free soup with the motto of “Soup campaign for you” in the streets of Istanbul. The association is also open to volunteer contributions to support its drive via its Twitter account.

The Atheism Association, the first of its kind in any Muslim-majority country, was officially founded in Istanbul’s Asian-side district of Kadıköy in April 2014.

Just three weeks after its foundation, the association was forced to install a panic button, which is directly connected to the police station near its headquarters in Istanbul, due to death threats.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-atheism-association-delivers-free-soup-in-istanbul.aspx?pageID=238&nID=86948&NewsCatID=339

http://ateizmdernegi.org/

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Turkish atheism association delivers free soup in Istanbul (Original Post) rug Aug 2015 OP

Turkey's Atheists Face Hostilities, Death Threats Yorktown Aug 2015 #1

Yorktown

(2,884 posts)

1. Turkey's Atheists Face Hostilities, Death Threats

Reply to rug (Original post)

Sat Aug 22, 2015, 07:00 PM

Aug 2015

ISTANBUL—
Onur Romano, a founding member of Turkey’s Atheism Association, opens the office and checks the mail. For once, he says, there are no death threats.

"Sometimes they send photos of some al-Qaida members chopping people off heads and putting all the heads in a bucket," he says. "They tell us your head is going to be in one of the buckets, that's how you are going to leave your office, stuff like that."

In officially secular Turkey, whose population is 99 percent Muslim, atheists are voicing alarm about what they call increasing intolerance fueled by the country’s pro-Islamist government.

http://www.voanews.com/content/turkeys-atheists-face-hostility-death-threats/2720367.html

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