February 20, 2015
Religion and terror were horribly intertwined over the past couple of weeks, as deeply shocking instances of murderous violence spurred at least in part by religious differences rattled the world: twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by Islamic State jihadists in Libya; two people killed and more wounded by an Islamic radical in Copenhagen during a discussion on blasphemy; and three young Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, were murdered by a man who professed to be an “anti-theist.”
On Chapel Hill specifically, CFI’s president and CEO, Ron Lindsay, talked to Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post about the tense relations between atheism and Islam. At our Free Thinking blog, Michael De Dora advises that the secular community try to learn from the tragedy without taking ownership or placing blame on anyone other than the shooter.
While each act of violence was technically unrelated to the others, they all share a common theme of utter intolerance of those whose beliefs are different, and therefore unacceptable, to the perpetrators. In each case, an absolute refusal to coexist with those who hold different ideas about the practice or discussion of religion led to terror and death. We sadly found ourselves releasing two statements in as many weeks to respond to and reflect on these events.
After the events in Copenhagen and Libya, we declared that these tragedies would not dampen our resolve. “We will, as we always have, remain steadfast in our pursuit of the right to free expression and belief for all, whether or not we agree with those beliefs. We will continue to champion the right to satire, blasphemy, and all manner of peaceful criticism of religion and other sacredly held ideas.” And after the Chapel Hill murders, Ron Lindsay said, “Despite our differences in beliefs, we are all part of the global human community, and we are all responsible for each other.”