By Avijit Roy, from an upcoming article in the
April/May edition of Free Inquiry magazine:
To me, such religious extremism is
like a highly contagious virus. My own
recent experiences in this regard verify
the horrific reality that such religious
extremism is a “virus of faith.”
———————-
As I am writing this article, ISIS—one of
the most infamous extremist groups—
continues torturing minorities and
beheading people in the name of Allah.
Boko Haram, a terrorist organization in
Nigeria, is not only forcing women and
girls into prostitution but also massacring
thousands of people mercilessly in
the name of God. These are only a few
examples of the viruses of faiths, and
they’re happening all around us.
Avijit Roy was a fleeting figure living anonymously in his Alpharetta neighborhood but in his home country of Bangladesh his writing championing science and secular humanism over religion made him a man marked for death.
The 42-year-old Roy was well aware of the threats against him after the publication of his 2014 book,“Biswasher Virus,” or “The Virus of Faith” but he and his wife returned to the south Asian country to promote the work this week.
“As soon as the book was released … it hit the cranial nerve of Islamic fundamentalists,” Roy wrote in the current issue of Free Inquiry at secularhumanism.org. “I suddenly found myself a target of militant Islamists and terrorists. A well-known extremist by the name of Farabi Shafiur Rahman openly issued death threats to me through his numerous Facebook statuses. In one widely circulated status, Rahman wrote, “Avijit Roy lives in America and so, it is not possible to kill him right now. But he will be murdered when he comes back.”
Roy was killed and his wife badly wounded Thursday when they were attacked after they were pulled from a rickshaw taxi while returning from a book fair at Dhaka University.
Roy, the founder of a popular Bengali-language blog, “Mukto-mona” — or “Free Mind,” is the latest freethinker to come under attack for his religious views, largely from the march of extreme Islamic fundamentalism — stretching back now 30 years. The staff of “Charlie Hebdo,” the Parisian magazine was fatally attacked in January by Islamic State sympathizers angry over its satire of the prophet Muhammad.
Another freethinking Bangladeshi blogger was murdered two years ago and four have now been attacked since 2004. A decade ago, the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered after Muslim extremists objected to his provocative film. And in the 1980s, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa against author Salman Rushdie for his book Satanic Verses.
Roy quoted Rushdie in his article last year for the Center For Inquiry in which he talked about being threatened with death: “Religion, a medieval form of unreason,when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedom.”
Two blood-stained cleavers were found at the scene Thursday after the attackers disappeared into the crowds. 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.
“This killing is like ISIL (also known as ISIS) killing somebody,” Qudrot Muhamed told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, referring to the Islamic State army now committing atrocities in the Middle East. “What those terrorists and those people are doing we know is going on worldwide.”
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Dhaka, chanting against Roy’s killing and demanding justice, The Guardian Reported.
Muhamed, acting chairman of the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations of North America, condemned the killing as an attack on the Bangladeshi “constitution and flag.” He noted the largely Muslim country had enshrined the idea of secularism when it fought for independence against the Islamic republic of Pakistan.
Both Roy, who had a doctorate in engineering, and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who is also a blogger, were good people but strong atheists, said Zaydul Hoque, another Bangladeshi engineer who lives in north Fulton and is Bonya’s ex-husband.
Hoque, who described himself as a liberal Muslim, credited Roy with being an excellent stepfather to his daughter, of whom his ex-wife had custody.
“I am very sorry and very hurt because my daughter is crying all of the time because he was a good person,” Hoque said.
Bonya met Roy while he was completing his doctorate in Singapore in the early 2000s and she later brought him back to the United States, Hoque said. His ex-wife’s hostility to religion — Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism — was one of issues that undermined their marriage, he said.
“They were good people — it was only where they came to the religion issue that was tough if you were a religious person,” Hoque said. “If you are a religious person no matter what religion you followed you would have a hard time with them.”
Neighbors of Roy and his wife said they didn’t see much of the couple, whose teenage daughter was older than most of the nearby neighborhood children. Scott Morgan, who lived two houses down, said he mostly remembered Roy driving swiftly down the street.
“We always said, ‘That guy drives too fast,”’ Morgan said. “Now I know why.”
Roy told colleagues that if he were ever attacked — as some religious extremists threatened to do — he would invite his attacker to tea.
Although Roy’s writings could be pointed and passionate, he was not the least bit angry as a person, said Michael De Dora, director of public policy for the Center for Inquiry, based in Amherst, NY.. “He was the kindest, humblest, most open-minded person.”
Tom Flynn, the editor of Free Inquiry magazine, which published articles by Roy, said Roy’s blog was the leading Bengali platform for discussion of secular and scientific ideas.
He said Roy was well aware of the dangers he faced if he returned to Bangladesh.
Despite the risks, Flynn said, activists such as Roy often feel drawn to the places that shaped them. “There is this tremendous pull of home,” he said.
Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this report.
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