Religious Freedom Act also protects atheists

When President Obama signed a newly strengthened international religious freedom act, the intention was to protect religious believers around the world.

But the act, signed December 16, is being heralded by some legal scholars as a different milestone—for the first time, atheists and other nonreligious people are explicitly named as a class protected by the law.

Caroline Mala Corbin, professor of law at the University of Miami, noted that the new law “takes an expansive view of religious liberty, saying freedom of religion is not just about the right to practice religion. It is also about the right to have your own views about religion, including being agnostic and atheistic.”