In a joint statement with two other NGOs at the UN Human Rights Council on 12 March, IHEU exposed the hypocrisy of the Islamic States who, while attacking the Swiss referendum banning the construction of new minarets “which are no more central to Islam than spires are to Christianity”, chose to completely ignore the oppression of religious minorities, the murder of Christians, and the burning of churches in several of their own countries.

In a decision that may have serious implications for church-state separation, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled that the governmental use of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the U.S. Constitution. In a 2-1 decision, the court stated that the phrase does not form an unacceptable government endorsement of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The International Liaison Committee of Freethinkers and Atheists (ILCFA) has launched a petition to express solidarity with Italian judge Luigi Tosti. Judge Tosti was first sentenced to jail and then dismissed as a judge for refusing to administer justice under a crucifix. The petition is available here: http://www.cilalp.org/spip.php?article343

The National Secular Society (an IHEU member organization in the UK) has announced a large-scale campaign of protest against the state visit of the Pope to Britain in September.

Muslims, ex-Muslims and non-Muslims joined forces in London to protest against Sharia and against all religious laws and courts. The rally took place in Hyde Park, Saturday 21 November 2009. Speakers included: Roy Brown, of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU); rally organizer Maryam Namazie, of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (an IHEU Member Organization); David Pollock, president of the European Humanist Federation; Naomi Phillips of the British Humanist Association (IHEU MO); and Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society (IHEU MO).

Please act now to ask the Iranian government to stop the execution of Ehsan Fattahian scheduled for Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

Spiritual and moral background checks have been proposed for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. The local Humanist Association has raised the alarm at this development in a country where the Police Service and Defence Forces already appear to be exclusively Christian and where atheists and agnostics are barred or made to feel alienated.

The UN Human Rights Council has published IHEU's written statement on religious registration in OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) member states. The statement documents the failure of OIC member states to uphold their citizens' right to freedom of religion, with specific examples in Egypt and Malaysia. IHEU calls for all states to eliminate laws which require citizens to specify their religion on official documents and to permit all citizens to freely change their religion or belief without discrimination. IHEU also calls on OIC member states in particular to end discrimination against non-Muslims.

At its national congress last month, French IHEU member organization Libre Pensée unanimously passed a resolution on respect for private life in the context of recent French publicity stigmatizing the wearing of the burqua and niqab.

The UN Human Rights Council today published a written statement by IHEU on the role of the Holy See in the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, and its failure to honour its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.