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  • 7 March 2013: Copenhagen atheists want burials in non-religious plots

The atheist association Ateistisk Selskab* has launched a petition to put pressure on Copenhagen City Council, with the next meeting taking place next summer, for it to provide the necessary funds to create a burial plot reserved for atheists in Vestre Kirkegård cemetery, the largest in the city. A plot of 6,000 square metres had already been allocated to them in 2008, but the project, unpopular with the political authorities, had failed due to lack of funding. Today, the ground is abandoned. The association emphasises that each year 6,500 inhabitants in Copenhagen leave the Church of Denmark and that less than 50% of newborns are registered in its records. It insists on respect for the diversity of beliefs. The cemetery already possesses a Jewish and a Muslim burial plot. Atheists want to be buried as they lived, i.e. free of religion.

*The largest association of non-believers in Denmark (1,100 members in August 2012). Founded in 2002, it is intended to be apolitical and is part of the “Atheist Alliance International” network.

For further information, see: The Copenhagen Post, 7 March 2013.

D 15 October 2018   

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