Editorial
Taking advantage of religion
Let us not confuse religiosity with extremism
There can be no doubt that Bangladeshis are, by and large, a religious people. The crowds at events such as the Bishwa Ijtema and the number of people who attend prayer services every Friday stand as testimony to the fact that, as a nation, we take our religion seriously, and that it is an important part of most Bangladeshis' lives. Nor is it merely Muslim Bangladeshis who are devout. Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and others also have their religious traditions and observances, and the piety of the minority communities in Bangladesh is no less than that of the majority. Religious festivals and holy days are scrupulously observed and celebrated and form a crucial part of minority communities' self-identity, which is one reason why it is so important for us to respect all religions and that we enshrined such respect in the constitution. We should be careful, however, never to confuse the religiosity of Bangladeshi people, with the bigotry in the name of religion that certain people or groups are propounding. Since the inception of the country, and before, there have existed groups who have attempted to take advantage of the deep sense of religiosity that exists among the majority population and to abuse this piety to spear-head a political agenda. There can be no place in our polity for groups that use the cloak of religion to sow the seeds of discord and division. Even worse is when this kind of hatred and bigotry disguised as an appeal to religious sentiments is used to whip up fear and violence. Using religion to justify violence and hatred is both an affront to the democratic principles on which this nation was founded as well as the worse kind of abuse of religion. Recently, human rights groups have again criticised the abuse of fundamental rights in the country, correctly linking the phenomenon with the culture of impunity that has been allowed to grow up. It has become customary for the government to dismiss such criticism out of hand. We need not subscribe to every word of the critique offered, but surely it is worthwhile to pursue truth somewhere in between the government's angry denial and the abuses catalogued. The government must address the substantive parts of the critical report and not merely retreat into denial mode. Extremism, specially extremism in the name of religion, is an undeniable problem for the country, and the government must address both the problem and the culture of impunity within which it has flourished.
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