Attackers in Bangladesh Hack to Death American Blogger

[Warren Stupidity]

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking out against religious extremism was hacked to death as he walked through Bangladesh's capital with his wife, police said Friday.

The attack Thursday night on Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, occurred on a crowded sidewalk as he and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, were returning from a book fair at Dhaka University. Ahmed, who is also a blogger, was seriously injured. It was the latest in a series of attacks on secular writers in Bangladesh in recent years.

A previously unknown militant group, Ansar Bangla 7, claimed responsibility for the attack, Assistant Police Commissioner S.M. Shibly Noman told the Prothom Alo newspaper.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/02/27/world/asia/ap-as-bangladesh-us-writer-killed.html?_r=0

[trotsky]

1. ...

Roy "was the target because of his crime against Islam," the group said on Twitter.

But it's not about religion, because it never is.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. plus Dawkins said something we can deliberately misstate to make him look bad.

[Htom Sirveaux]

2. ...

[Act_of_Reparation]

3. Waiting for certain special someone to come around to tell us...

...he should have known better than to criticize peoples' religion.

[trotsky]

6. As the leader of a billion-member church has said about religious violence:

“It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”

Source

[MellowDem]

11. It is normal...

because many believers, even the moderates, refuse to see the impact of religious privilege.

[edhopper]

5. It's horrible

what people do because they believe it's what God wants, or that they somehow have to defend the all-knowing, all-powerful ruler of the Universe.

Because of religion!

[trotsky]

7. It's not about religion SO STOP SAYING THAT!!! n/t

[edhopper]

8. Is that because

"real" believers don't do such things?

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. That's what we're told, at any rate.

A few days ago, someone here claimed circumcision had "nothing to do with religion".

[edhopper]

16. I understand that

Praying and going to church also have nothing to do with it as well.

[Iggo]

9. How dare he criticise the religion of peace!!!!

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. It's pretty telling that people who flock to "Dawkins said [fill in the blank]" posts...

...like moths to a fucking flame are suspiciously silent when someone gets hacked to death in the fucking streets.

[skepticscott]

15. Yes, the lapdogs of the yacht club clan

can't seem to muster the moral courage to condemn this.

[AtheistCrusader]

24. Well, at least one of them said he was sorry to hear it. Even if he used it as an opportunity

to backhandedly proselytize over it.

[hrmjustin]

13. Very sorry to hear this.

May he rest in peace.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Do you have any idea how that sounds, in reference to an atheist?

Way to try and make the issue about *your* beliefs.

[hrmjustin]

18. I don't know what you are talking about so please explain what you are complaining about.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. You're going to sit there and tell me that you have NO IDEA what the origins of 'rest in peace' are?

REALLY? No clue the meaning?

It's an Abrahamic/Christian idiom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace

It's like you really just don't believe we are what we say we are. We don't go anywhere. We don't 'rest' peacefully or otherwise. We die.

How hard is that for you to understand?


Consider your audience when you spout that noise, would you? Would you say that to a muslim? No. You'd say Allah Yarhamak, or Rahmat Allah Alayk, because Rest in Peace is MEANINGLESS and quite possibly offensive to them.

It's YOUR religion. Your du'a. Your expression of faith in death. Stop projecting it on non-adherents.

Religious people have done quite enough projection on the victim in the OP already.

[hrmjustin]

20. It is a figure of speech. i mean nothing negative by it.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Seems pretty crass from over here.

I suggest saving it for Christians, and maybe pick up a couple 'figures of speech' for non-Christians for future use. (Atheists aren't the only audience that sort of saying isn't meaningful for (or worse, offensive).)

Subject line was a fine sentiment on its own, not sure why you had to keep going. Is it a reflex to you now, or what? Just a sound you make in response to certain conditions?

[hrmjustin]

22. At this point it is clear to me you are going to see something wrong in anything I say so

i am done.

All you do is harp on me and I am sick of it. So at this point I m going to take my own advice that I gave to others about the ignore function.

I wish you well with your future endeavors and good health.

Take care of yourself.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. 'Take care of yourself'

You're so transparent, Justin.

'Have a nice day'. Next time, when expressing sympathy to someone, try actually expressing sympathy, instead of just saying something that makes YOU feel better.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Truly awful

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Widow of blogger Avijit Roy defiant after Bangladesh attack

The widow of a blogger who was hacked to death in Bangladesh says she will continue to speak out on the causes of secularism and science.

Rafida Bonya Ahmed was also badly injured when her US-Bangladeshi husband Avijit Roy was killed after leaving a book fair in Dhaka last month.

Speaking to the BBC from a safe location, she said fundamentalism had "taken deep roots" in Bangladesh.
...
"I will go back to being vocal and expressing what we believe in. The cause that Avijit died for, I will not be quiet," she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31819649

Interview:
https://soundcloud.com/bbc-world-service/rafida-bonya-ahmed-murdered-blogger-avijit-roys-wife-i-will-not-be-quiet