The advertisement poster “Life without God – life without meaning” in Latvia, Riga, Lāčplēša st. 117 is openly offensive and injurious towards the individual dignity for the following reasons.

The Republic of Latvia is a secular state with many citizens having no religious affiliations which is a right and freedom guaranteed by the Latvian Constitution (Article 99, “Everyone has rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religious affiliation. The church is separated from the state.”).

In accord to the Constitution, each citizen is fully allowed either to follow any religion and faith or to hold no religious beliefs at all. This poster, being an instance of public and openly presented religious propaganda that offends the will, conscience and values of non-believers and adherents of other religions, is directly offensive towards the personal dignity of these individuals, since it carries the message that their lives has no purpose and no meaning. Furthermore, the design of the poster strongly resembles the state flag of the Republic of Latvia. The use of state symbols to the end of religious propaganda is also contrary to the Constitutional law due to the clause of separation of church and state.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, as well as according to the Article 116 of the Latvian Constitution (“Rights of the individual, as exposed in Articles 96, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 106, and 108, can be made limited according to the law, in order to protect the rights of other individuals, the democracy of the State,  the safety, well-being and morality of the society. This Article may also apply to limitations of public expression of religious beliefs.”) and the Subclause 1 of the Article 4 of the Law of Religious Organisations (“Direct or indirect infringement of the rights or elevation of privileges of the people, as well as defamation and hateful action based on their religious beliefs, are expressly forbidden by law. The offenders shall therefore be persecuted according to the established order.”), we ask for the removal of the aforementioned item of religious propaganda, which is openly and expressly offensive towards certain communities of the people of this state, as well as to their beliefs.

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