American Atheists | Judge Luigi Tosti To Speak At Convention

Judge Luigi Tosti to Speak at Convention

Judge Luigi Tosti: Traditionally Courtrooms in Roman Catholic Italy have crucifixes on the wall behind the judge’s bench. Judge Tosti of Italy declined for months to hold court in Camerino, Italy, because he insisted that religious symbols have no place in a court of law. In 2005 he was convicted for failing to carry out his official duties and sentenced to seven months in prison and a one-year suspension. Judge Tosti appealed and does not have to serve the sentence until the appeals process has been exhausted. This is an appeal process that has won the support of secular organizations throughout the world.

Judge Tost said, “I was convicted because I am a minor-league citizen compared to Catholics. No freedom has been won without in the beginning a person or a group of persons trying to get this singular part of freedom against a majority of persons not willing to give this freedom.” Judge Tosti does not intend to restrict his resistance and has gone on strike for as long as the presence of a religious symbol is imposed upon him.