Atheist terror?

“It was execution style, a bullet in every head,” says the father of the murdered Abu-Salha sisters. One of the sisters was studying dentistry while the other was studying architecture. The elder sister Yusor Mohammad had recently married and her younger sister Razan Mohammad used to live with her.

Deah Barakat, who was Yusor’s husband and studying dentistry as well, was a compassionate activist. Deah, who was of Syrian descent, apart from providing free-of-charge dental care to the homeless in the county he resided in, also planned to provide the same services this summer to Syrian refugees in Turkey. He had also managed to collect thousands of dollars in donations for the charity fund set up by his friends to help Syrian refugees. Those beautiful young people who were full of life were taken from our midst. God willing they are martyrs. (The writer reveals her radical Islamism here.)

The motives of the murderer, Craig Hicks, are clear to see when the explanations provided by the family of the Abu-Salha sisters and the content of Hick’s social media activity are taken into account. The anti-Muslim Hicks, who has an atheist ideology, killed these youths because they were Muslims. Below are a few examples of the personalities and ideas that were a source of inspiration to the murderer:

“My respect for the Abrahamic religions went up in the smoke and choking dust of Sept. 11. The last vestige of respect for the taboo disappeared as I watched ‘The Day of Prayer’ in Washington Cathedral, where people of mutually incompatible faiths united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place: religion. It is time for people of intellect, as opposed to people of faith, to stand up and say ‘Enough!’ Let our tribute to the dead be a new resolve: to respect people for what they individually think, rather than respect groups for what they were collectively brought up to believe.”

Apart from these words by the militant defender of militant atheism, Richard Dawkins; another of Hick’s favorites is the “bigoted secular” television presenter Bill Maher, who never speaks against Judaism or Israel, very rarely against Christianity, but most frequently against Islam:

“When I hear from people that religion doesn't hurt anything, I say really? Well besides wars, the crusades, the inquisitions, 9/11, ethnic cleansing, the suppression of women, the suppression of homosexuals, fatwas, honor killings, suicide bombings, arranged marriages to minors, human sacrifice, burning witches, and systematic sex with children, I have a few little quibbles.” Bill Maher.

“The truth is, apart from the beliefs of Muslims, you also know well what it means to be an atheist. Isn’t it very clear that Muslims are deceiving themselves? Isn’t it very clear that someone who thinks the Quran is the perfect word from the creator of the universe hasn’t read that book with a critical eye?”

The vast majority of Western media ignored this massacre at first. After the news of the murder started trending all over the world on Twitter, CNN was forced to run the story but referred to the murderer as a “man” without any mention of his identity or his atheist character, and employed a language that cast doubt on whether this was a hate crime or not. If the murderer had been Muslim and the victims non-Muslims, there is no doubt that the murderer would have been mentioned on the basis of his Muslim identity and as a terrorist.

So, why wasn’t any mention made about this ideological perspective that Hicks holds so strongly? Hicks’ idols would strongly condemn this massacre if asked about it. However, none of them would ever question the motives behind it. They won’t be harassed with the question of “Are you sincere while condemning this?” They won’t be forced to become apologists who say “this is not real atheism.” Not every atheist will be linked in some manner to this crime, and they won’t even be expected to apologize for it.

In almost all regions of the world, Muslims are the weakest link in the network of power. They are innocents and subordinates. As a consequence, even when they are victims they can still be held responsible. Those that kill them are presented as either mad or “lone wolves” or apostles of freedom. There are indications of such an approach in their attempt to portray Hicks as a person with a mental illness rather than focus on his being influenced by anti-Islam authors.

Western civilization will have to reap the seeds of hate it sows as long as it continues to adopt positions based on the identities of the killers and victims.