Atheist Richard Dawkins on Paris Terrorist Attack: All Religions Are Not Equally Violent
Atheist author Richard Dawkins took to Twitter to assert that modern Islam is more violent than many other religions, in response to the brutal terror attack against a satirical French newspaper where a dozen people were murdered.
"No, all religions are NOT equally violent. Some have never been violent, some gave it up centuries ago. One religion conspicuously didn't," tweeted Dawkins.
"Of COURSE most Muslims are peaceful. But if someone's killed for what they drew or said or wrote, you KNOW the religion of the killers."
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Earlier this week, a group of Islamic terrorists stormed a satirical Parisian newspaper headquarters and killed its editor, Charlie Hebdo, and several others.
Considered one of the worst acts of terror performed in France in recent memory, the attack came in response to Hebdo publishing cartoons of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.
As of Thursday morning, at least seven people have been arrested in connection to the terrorist attack, but the two mains suspects remain at large.
France's president, Francois Hollande, has called for a national day of mourning to remember the 12 victims.
"Nothing can divide us, nothing should separate us," said Hollande. "Freedom will always be stronger than barbarity. France has always known how to defeat its enemies when it has known how to defend its values. Let us be united and we shall triumph."
In his recently posted comments on Twitter, Dawkins considered the idea that religion had nothing to do with the attack to be idiotic.
"They shouted 'We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad," http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30710883 … Some useful idiot will claim it had nothing to do with religion," tweeted Dawkins.
In the past, Dawkins has garnered controversy for posting comments about Islam on the social media website.
In 2013, Dawkins incurred a wave of criticism for a tweet wherein the outspoken atheist and biologist used the phrase "Islamic barbarians" to describe a group in Mali that damaged a historic library.
"Some people (perhaps 1st language not English) think I was calling ALL Muslims barbarians. No. I was calling Islamic BARBARIANS barbarians," he posted, defending his usage of the term.
Last October, Dawkins again found himself having to defend his remarks on social media when he tweeted that teenaged Muslim Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai "is religious now but give her time."
"I wrote two heartfelt tweets congratulating Malala. Flood of attacks saying she's religious. I defended her: yes she's religious. For now," replied Dawkins to that wave of criticism.
"I congratulated Malala. People then attacked her for wearing hijab. I DEFENDED her; she's only 17. So I was attacked for 'attacking' her."
