In the midst of the discussions around France, freedom of thought/speech/religion and the murders there it is useful to look at Bangladesh. Sounds odd I know but stay with me 1/ https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/bangaldeshi-bloggers-religious-fanaticism_in_5f25a760c5b6a34284bb8177?ncid=other_twitter_cooo9wqtham&utm_campaign=share_twitter

In Bangladesh, being an public atheist is extremely dangerous and there's a good chance that some reactionary zealot will kill you for it. They are motivated by ideas that have driven religious violence for a long time 2/

As the story I linked to demonstrates, no matter the context and history of a country, there will always be and always have been religious extremists who will do anything to shut you up. 3/

It is disappointing that some people are not interested in looking at why religion can be seen as a pretty great motivator for reactionary violence, especially when turned into a political ideology 4/

And we may be discussing Islam right now, but you don't have to look too far to find reactionary Christians, Buddhists and others killing and threatening people for questioning their sacred values and beliefs. Just ask abortion doctors and the Rohingya. 5/

This can be acknowledged while also recognising that RW activists use these events to popularise bigoted and essentialist views of Muslim minorities in their country. Anti-Muslim activism and sentiment is a big problem and is growing year on year-we must face up to that too 6/6