There’s nothing much I can add to this statement by Humanists UK, but I am going to anyway:
I’m a humanist, as well as being an atheist and a secularist. And because I am all of these things I support the right for people to worship the God of their choice or to worship no God at all.
The alleged murderer has been named as Jihad Al-Shami, the literal translation of which is Meritorious Struggle The Syrian, so maybe that’s a non de plume and not his real name at all. He’s also described as a Briton of Syrian descent. Either way, it would appear that either Meritorious Struggle The Syrian is a murderous nutcase or he’s a murderous Islamist nutcase. Allegedly.
We will find out soon enough who this man really is – sorry, was: he was shot dead by brave police officers following his murderous attack – and hopefully his motives for committing such an atrocity.
I hope calm minds prevail today. I am opposed to religious fanatics – and I assume Mr The Syrian was one of those – of all kinds, particularly those who kill people for reasons rooted deep in indoctrination and insanity. I do not believe Islamist maniacs, or anyone else for that matter, enter Paradise or Heaven when they die and in this man’s case, I only wish there was a hell for him to go to. But now, deep breaths …
Can we now just have a little love and peace? Not love for the killer, I’m afraid. I don’t have the powers of forgiveness that would make that possible, but can we not avoid revenge attacks or so-called protests by people using it as an excuse for more violence? We have enough disorder for one year in Britain, even if it was nowhere near as widespread as right-wing politicians and their brothers in arms in the gutter media would have you believe.
As Timmy Thomas said back in 1972, why can’t we live together? It can’t be that hard, can it? Can’t we just live together under one law, the law of the land? To end schooling on the basis of religion, to separate the church from the state, to ensure that no one has special privileges because of the God they believe in or indeed the one they don’t believe in. This isn’t hard, is it? Anyone who wants to live in what might be called a Catholic country, a Christian country or a Muslim country can surely apply to live in one? That’s not to say if you want to practise your religion of choice you must leave secular Britain: it means you have the same rights and conform to the same rules and laws as everyone else. What you cannot do is attack people who believe in something different to what you believe in.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one. You said that in 1971, Mr Lennon. It is as true today, maybe even more so, than it was back then.
