The “Säkulare Flüchtlingshilfe“, English name: “Atheist Refugee Relief“, is now a registered and non-profit association. Its aim is to provide practical assistance to refugees without religion and to improve their living conditions through political work.
The association’s self-conception is based on secular-humanistic, rational and naturalistic guiding principles (“evolutionary humanism”). It fights for the enforcement of human rights and for humanist ethics. The association’s work focuses on the principles of the Open Society, namely liberalism (orientation to the ideal of freedom), equality (orientation to the ideal of equality), individuality (orientation to the individual rather than to the collective) and secularitism (orientation to secular forms of the foundation of standards).
In its practical work, the association aims assist the secular refugees in finding suitable housing, to accompany them to offices, doctors, lawyers and to help them to find access to suitable language and integration courses, physiological and psychological therapy.
We also see it as an elementary part of our work to enable the affected people to experience their long awaited freedom in real life. This freedom is often expressed in “trifles”, which are by no means a matter of course for those affected: the possibility of freely choosing one’s own clothing and being able to wear it in public.
The freedom to cycle around the city. To experience what it feels like to dive into the water in a public swimming pool or just go to a big cinema. This is an overwhelming experience, especially for women.
Many of those affected are also politically active. They are fighting for their rights and want to promote information about the situation of their societies of origin. We consider this work to be essential and therefore support them in their travels to conferences and networking meetings as well as in their appearances in the press, radio and television.
