St. Petersburg Declaration is a manifesto and affirmation of Human Rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and Freedom of thought

Freedom of thought

Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....

 for Muslims and non-Muslims in the Muslim world released in March 2007 in St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

, by a group of thinkers and reformers from Muslim societies.

The St. Petersburg Declaration has been endorsed by notable scholars such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...

 , Magdi Allam

Magdi Allam

Magdi Cristiano Allam , is an Egyptian-born Italian journalist and political leader, noted for his criticism of Islamic Extremism, his defence of Judeo-Christian roots of Europe and the West, and his articles on the relations between Western culture and the Islamic world...

, Mithal al-Alusi

Mithal al-Alusi

Mithal Jamal Hussein Ahmad al-Alusi is an Iraqi politician and the leader of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation. He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives as an independent in the December 2005 election...

, Shaker Al-Nabulsi

Shaker Al-Nabulsi

Shaker Al Nabulsi - Dr. Shaker Al Nabulsi is an American author and columnist of Jordanian descent. He is a signatory of the St Petersburg Declaration and has authored numerous books and written widely-cited articles on politics, religion, literature and the Arab world.He noted that "There are...

, Nonie Darwish

Nonie Darwish

Nonie Darwish is an Egyptian-American human rights activist, and founder of Arabs For Israel, and is Director of Former Muslims United. She is the author of two books: Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror and Cruel and Usual Punishment: The...

, Afhin Ellian, Tawfik Hamid

Tawfik Hamid

Tawfik Hamid is an author from Egypt who opposes Islamic fundamentalism.A self-described former member of the militant al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya Tawfik Hamid advocates a peaceful understanding of Islam that is compatible with universal human rights and intellectual freedom...

, Shahriar Kabir

Shahriar Kabir

For the Bangladeshi cricketer of the same name see Shahriar Kabir .Shahriar Kabir is a Bangladesh Awamileague Supported Bangladeshi journalist, filmmaker, human rights activist, and author of more than 70 books focusing on human rights, communalism, fundamentalism, history, and the Bangladesh war...

, Hasan Mahmud, Wafa Sultan

Wafa Sultan

Wafa Sultan is a medical doctor who trained as a psychiatrist in Syria, and an American author and critic of Muslim society and Islam.-Life and career:Sultan was born into a large traditional Alawite Muslim family in Baniyas, Syria....

, Amir Taheri

Amir Taheri

Amir Taheri is an Iranian-born conservative author based in Europe. His writings focus on the Middle East affairs and topics related to Islamist terrorism. He gained international fame as the man behind the 2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy.-Career:Taheri's biography at Benador Associates...

, Ibn Warraq

Ibn Warraq

Ibn Warraq is the pen name of a polemical author of Pakistani origin who is critical of Islam, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society . He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry focusing on Qur'anic criticism...

, Manda Zand Ervin

Manda Zand Ervin

Manda Zand Ervin is an Iranian writer, thinker and human rights activist born in the province of Lorestan, Iran. She is a member of the Zand tribe.- Life :...

,
Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi.

Text of the declaration

• We are secular Muslims, and secular persons of Muslim societies. We are believers, doubters, and unbelievers, brought together by a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree.
• We affirm the inviolable freedom of the individual conscience. We believe in the equality of all human persons.
• We insist upon the separation of religion from state and the observance of universal human rights.
• We find traditions of liberty, rationality, and tolerance in the rich histories of pre-Islamic and Islamic societies. These values do not belong to the West or the East; they are the common moral heritage of humankind.
• We see no colonialism, racism, or so-called “Islamaphobia” in submitting Islamic practices to criticism or condemnation when they violate human reason or rights.
• We call on the governments of the world to reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights; eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women; protect sexual and gender minorities from persecution and violence; reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims; and foster an open public sphere in which all matters may be discussed without coercion or intimidation.
• We demand the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid strictures of orthodoxy.
• We enjoin academics and thinkers everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the origins and sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of free scientific and spiritual inquiry through cross-cultural translation, publishing, and the mass media.
• We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine; to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens; and to nonbelievers: we defend your unqualified liberty to question and dissent.
• Before any of us is a member of the Umma, the Body of Christ, or the Chosen People, we are all members of the community of conscience, the people who must choose for themselves.

External references

• Edmonton Sun
  Edmonton Sun
  The Edmonton Sun is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.It began publishing in 1978 and shares many characteristics typical of Sun Media tabloids, including an emphasis on local news stories, its conservative editorial stance,...
  
  : Pulling Muslims from Dark Age
• World Net Daily: Muslims issue manifesto against radical Islam
• The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
  : How my eyes were opened to the barbarity of Islam