The recent Bangladesh terror attacks bust the Terror has no Religion myth

So I am writing this only because a reader asked me to share my views on the recent terror attacks in Bangladesh. Why did I not write on it myself? It’s for reasons that will soon become apparent in this blog post.

We all know what happened- terror has shaken up Bangladesh twice in the past week and the apparent perpetrators of the attack, the Islamic State (more popularly known as the ISIS or simply the IS), has warned of more attacks.

What do I think of it? My own analysis of it?

Not something you would like to read if you’re too sensitive and are a part of the ‘All Lives Matter’ bandwagon. I belong to the thought that believes ‘terror has no religion’ but I am slowly beginning to question that. Really? Does really terror has no religion?

When there is a terrorist pointing his gun at you asking you to recite a verse from the Holy Quran, can we still say terror has no religion? All those people who died because they could not quote the Quran, would they or their families still believe that terror has no religion?

Now don’t get me wrong, a particular terrorist group does not brand a whole religion as terrorists. Just because I talk of the Islamic State here, and I say that terror indeed has some link with religion, I am not brandishing all Muslims as terrorists. Just like the existence of Bajrang Dal does not make all Hindus a bunch of idiots indulging in moral policing or whatever the BS they regularly keep on doing.

But we have to understand here that a problem exists. And I’ll tell you why. For long we had been coming up with this argument that impart education. Once you get these people educated, they’d stay away from guns and violence but the fact that the most attackers in this act of violence were well educated that sent this theory for a six.

So where does it leave us?

What my little mind can make of it, I have come to think that there exists two extreme schools of thought in every religion. One that is practiced by all of us in our everyday lives- where we believe there is ultimately one supreme power though our paths may be different. And the other that believes there is only one God and it is their God. 

And no, it’s not the preachers of religions alone but our Holy Books that have gone wrong in places, the Bible tells you that it is wrong to practice homosexuality, the Gita tells you that it is imperative for you to have a son to reach salvation and the Quran tells you that it is okay to abuse your wife. The preachers apparently seem to be preaching just what they are reading and nothing else. These books which were written centuries ago presumably are not in sync with the modern times we’re living in. There’s no single Caliph that can rule the world or nor your single definition of ‘Ram Rajya’. It’s sad that we keep updating our literature with the modern times but never our religions. And what happens when you let water stand in a place for too long? It stinks.

The only time it flourishes lives is when it flows and changes and adapts itself to the changing course in front of it.