Anywhere Islam is the state religion, freedoms are usurped and human rights abuses become rampant. Christian leader Nirmol Rozario states his concerns about the future of Bangladesh under Islam:
“In its Constitution, Bangladesh declares itself a secular country. But at the same time, it says that the state religion is Islam. This is a clear contradiction. And if this state of affairs continues, Islamic fundamentalism and religious hatred will end up creating serious problems.”
“Christians, religious minorities protest establishment of Islam as state religion in Bangladesh,” by Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post, June 21, 2021:
Christians and other religious minorities in Bangladesh recently took part in the annual “Black Day” protest against the 1988 constitutional amendments that established Islam as the state religion, leading to persecution and discrimination against non-Muslims in the Muslim-majority country.
“With the amendment, the seed of sectarian politics has been planted,” Asia News quoted Nirmol Rozario, a Christian leader who was part of the march on June 9, as saying. “In a country where Hindus, Buddhists and Christians also live, a single religion cannot proclaim itself as the state religion. We do not agree.”
The number of Christians in Bangladesh is estimated at 1.6 million, which comprises around 1% of the country’s population.
Rozario added, “In its Constitution, Bangladesh declares itself a secular country. But at the same time, it says that the state religion is Islam. This is a clear contradiction. And if this state of affairs continues, Islamic fundamentalism and religious hatred will end up creating serious problems.”
Muslim radicals often have a level of impunity because police in Bangladesh tend to turn a blind eye to the persecution of religious minorities, Christian Freedom International said in an earlier report.
Despite reports that Christianity is growing in the country, CFI emphasized that Christians are forced to keep their worship activities secretive to prevent “retaliation” for their faith.
“Churches, especially house churches where Muslim-background believers meet, prefer not to display any Christian symbols in order to avoid being recognized,” a report from the Christian persecution watchdog ministry Open Doors U.K. stated earlier. “Sometimes, even historic or mainline churches face opposition and restrictions in putting up a cross or other religious symbols.”
“Religious minorities are often persecuted by the majority group,” Rana Dasgupta, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, was quoted by Asia News as saying. “For our security, we strongly demand a minority ministry and a commission for religious communities.”
Bangladesh’s society is deeply divided along political lines. Bengali nationalists, who are proud of the country’s language and culture, favor the country’s independence from Pakistan, which was established during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, as they believe that religion alone does not form a cohesive national identity. They also believe that West Pakistan, what’s called Pakistan today, imposed religious hegemony on its Eastern territory, East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was called before its independence…..
OTTER says
Wait and watch how the next elections will be bloody in Bangladesh. Fanatics are growing in numbers.
Infidel says
Maybe it will, but regardless, the jihadist parties will come to power. Bangladeshi Christians and Hindus will both wanna flee to India, but in the meantime, Waste Bengal has become even more toxic a place for non-muslims, and Modi’s supine government is doing nothing about it. India is just asking for trouble, and I won’t be surprised if they descend into a full blown civil war, blowing up all the hopes of the west of them becoming the next great economic partner after China is isolated
gravenimage says
+1
Raja says
Infidel,
West Bengal is wasted indeed, fully agree. The results were there for all (world) to see post election results.
Moral of the story: Islam can be egregious. Those pandering to Islam can be nastier still.
The PM has lots of constraints, but he is too focused pleasing RSS, BJP, he is too focused on how he or his party is better than evil Congress
Infidel says
Modi is making the same sort of mistakes establishment Republicans used to make before Trump arrived: take his base for granted. In Waste Bengal, the plight of party workers being driven out of their homes, murdered, raped, assaulted, humiliated goes on, and all he can do is lament! I think India should write out a law banning anyone from Gujarat – that Gandhian state – from ever becoming their leader: that state looks at Gandhi, rather than Shri Krishna, as their role model
The assumption being made by Amit Shah and the other political geniuses in the BJP is that Hindutva voters have nowhere else to go. Well, in India, they can either vote NOTA (None of the above) or they can sit out the elections. Like I said, Modi will find himself soon enough in the same predicament as Netanyahu, b’cos he thought that the lives of his voters were expendable
Raja says
Otter,
Islam with full of lies also lies about other religions. These fanatics draw their inspiration from social media, the ilks of Zakir Naik and rest of internet, besides “holy” koran.
Fanaticism is bound to grow exponentially, the of course results seen on the streets during their “prayer” and other unlawful activities including protests.
Brando says
In MALAYSIA 61% is Muslim and Islam is the Official Religion, and there it is,de facto, legally Forbidden to Leave Islam. The rest are Hindu(Indian descent) ,Buddist (Chinese) and Christian (Chinese).
THE CASE OF THE PHILIPPINES
If the Spaniards had Not Conquered it in the 16th century,no doubt it would be as Muslim as INDONESIA. It is thought about 90% of Indonesian women have had FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION ( approved in the 4 Sunni Religious Schools of Jurisprudence)
Now the Philippines is 90% non-Muslim,and you can say: Westernized to the core.
TAGALOG has a vocabulary of 30% made up of Spanish words. It is not surprising since in a study in 1900 they found out that of the 9 Million Inhabitants:
900,000 ( 10% ) Only Spoke Spanish and 50% were Bilingual( Spanish and their native language).The situation has since changed,English being the language that is used now.
Of the 110 million Filipinos,58% speak English.
LEFTISTS AND THE WEST
With their Critical Race Theory where whites are the Eternal Evil Ones, it turns out that the 8 HOUR A DAY shift was Created in the West, and No,it was Not in the 19th century.
King PHILIP II of SPAIN,in 1593 ( for the first time in history,as far as we know),in an EDICT (Ley VI de la Ordenanza de Instrucción de 1593).
First it was local,then extended to ALL the subjects of the EMPIRE( Spain and Portugal(he was king of Portugal also), what is now Brazil and the rest of South America,
Central America,Mexico,the Philippines, the Portuguese possessions in India, the Caribbean,
Sicily,southern Italy, and Belgium).
The edict said it would be 4 hrs work in the morning,and 4 hrs in the afternoon.For MINERS the work shift would be…..7 HOURS.
IN THE REST OF EUROPE
They did not have such a work shift,so when the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION began in the UK, people worked 12 HR shifts/day.
THE 6 HR WORK SHIFT/DAY
It appears in THOMAS MORE’s book UTOPIA (1516 )and it inspired the work shift in the JESUIT REDUCTIONS ( 1609-1757, some 150 years):
It was from 9 am to 12pm ( 3 hrs),then 2 hrs rest and food,then
work from 2pm to 5pm ( and 5 DAYS a week,the weekend was for resting )
Ultimately the Jesuit reductions had 30 towns, with a total population of 100,000,in a territory the size of FRANCE.
Infidel says
That is history. That generation of Bangladeshis who fought Pakistan is dying out: after all, it was 50 years ago that this happened. In its place, today’s generation of Bangladeshis are hardcore jihadists, clinging to parties like the hefazat-e-islam, which is their equivalent of the Taliban. Indeed, one of their slogans run ‘Bangladesh will be Afghanistan, we’ll be the Taliban’
Most of those people lament Bangladesh’s 1971 split from Pakistan, and are virulently Hinduophobic and anti-India. They label Bangladeshi Hindus as stooges of India, Bangladeshi Christians as stooges of the US, Bangladeshi Jews as stooges of Israel, Bangladeshi Buddhists as stooges of Burma… even while they themselves act as stooges of Pakistan. Note that like Pakistan, they have nothing to say about the Chicom persecution of Uyghurs, but they are happy participants in the Ghazwa-e-Hind movement – a jihadist movement to re-islamize India like it was under the Mughals. Oh, and on the language front, they’re exploring changing the Bengali script to Nastaliq, the same script used by Urdu and Arabic, so that no traces will remain of Hindu cultural influence
India’s problem is that it still thinks that Sheikh Hasina is representative of Bangladeshi opinion, and is doing nothing to implement moves like NRC, that would force out Bangladeshi muslims out of India. Modi is getting too enamored by any admiration he’s getting from Centrists, both in India and abroad. India can’t get Yogi as their prime minister soon enough
As for Bangladesh, it’s fast becoming a new Pakistan, and a new hub for ISIS to infiltrate into India and operate w/ impunity. The sooner India recognizes them as a de-facto enemy, the better
Raja says
Infidel,
Great comments. Thanks for your time for the analysis, I couldn’t agree any more.
The days of internet or information age has stoked for enthusiasm for normative Islam. It is for us, the freedom loving to take the fight to the camp of devil and oppressors of freedom. These do not just happen without consequences.
Freedom will win, but with a heavy price, only time will tell.
Infidel says
Freedom hasn’t always won everywhere. There are places where they’ve looked like being forever lost. Look at China. Look at the ummah. In Russia, it looked like they might have gotten it in the 90s, but once Putin came to power, it gradually faded away. The only way some of these regimes will collapse is if asteroids start hitting their capitals – Civ VI style
The things that Hindus have noted is that if India goes down, Hinduism as a religion goes extinct. India is as essential to Hindus at large as Israel is to Jews
gravenimage says
I am generally an optimist, Infidel–but you are not wrong. Freedom is not inevitable, and some places have never been free. This is why the work of Anti-Jihadists is so important.
James Lincoln says
Infidel says,
“India is as essential to Hindus at large as Israel is to Jews”
Perfectly stated, my compliments.
Infidel says
Thank you, Graven & James
gravenimage says
Bangladesh: Christians and other minorities protest against establishment of Islam as state religion
………………
Surprised this protest was even allowed. It certainly won’t be heeded.
Raja says
!00 % right Gravenimage.
gregbeetham says
I’m wondering when the UK proclaims Islam as the state religion, they might as well considering the servility of the government to it.
Same in Canada, and NZ is a bit sus now as well with the PM they’ve got, and we’ve got the Socialist Republic of Victoria but that’s about it so far in Oz.