The Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, UAAR) is the only nationwide association of atheists and agnostics in Italy. It is completely independent from political parties or lobbies of any kind.

UAAR was founded in 1991 to promote the diffusion of atheist and agnostic ideas, operate for a thoroughly secular State, and struggle against any privilege granted to the Roman Catholic religion and against any discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

 of nonbelievers.

UAAR's activities include the following:

• Since December 1996, UAAR has published L’Ateo (The Atheist) and in 1998 it created a website on the Internet.
• Besides seeking contacts with government representatives, UAAR is prepared to initiate legal actions to obtain the full acknowledgement for atheism and atheists' rights; they have, for instance, obtained recognition of the right for the baptised to be considered no longer Christians if they wish.

• Through their affiliation to International Humanist and Ethical Union
  International Humanist and Ethical Union
  The International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...
  
   (IHEU) and European Humanist Federation
  European Humanist Federation
  The European Humanist Federation-Fédération Humaniste Européenne is an international association that federates numerous European humanist associations. It also has individual members. The members of its administrative board are elected for three-year terms by the general assembly of the member...
  
   (EHF) (in which UAAR represents Italy), UAAR engages in intellectual battles because Italy is the seat of the largest religion in the world and UAAR are de facto the front organisation involved in the struggle for secularism.

Among UAAR's main goals is the abrogation of article 7 of the Italian Constitution, which recognises the Lateran Treaties

Lateran treaties

The Lateran Treaty is one of the Lateran Pacts of 1929 or Lateran Accords, three agreements made in 1929 between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, ratified June 7, 1929, ending the "Roman Question"...

 between Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

.

The Atheist Bus Campaign

In January 2009, the organization promoted an atheist bus campaign

Atheist Bus Campaign

The Atheist Bus Campaign aims to place "peaceful and upbeat" messages about atheism on transport media in Britain, in response to evangelical Christian advertising....

 inspired by the similar initiative of the British Humanist Association

British Humanist Association

The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

. The campaign, due to start on February 4, 2009, was symbolically launched in Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, on the occasion of the nomination of the city's archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

, Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

 Angelo Bagnasco

Angelo Bagnasco

Angelo Bagnasco is an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference , and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007....

, as president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

The original slogan chosen for the Italian campaign reads: "The bad news is that God does not exist. The good news is that you don't need it". On 16 January 2009 IGPDecaux, the company holding licenses for ads on public transport in Genoa, refused to give authorization to the atheist bus campaign on the grounds that it may "offend the moral, civic and religious convictions of the public". Antonio Catricalà, the head of the Italian National Authority for Fair Trading and Competition, announced that the Authority filed a case against the Atheist Bus initiative because of the potentially "dangerous and mendacious nature" of the ads. As a reaction, the UAAR launched a new campaign in Genoa with a different slogan to comply with the advertising authority's rules: "The good news is that there are millions of atheists in Italy. The excellent news is they believe in freedom of speech".