₦airaland Forum

A Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger Resettled in Germany To Escape Slaughter. This Is His Story

April 7, 2017 by Hemant Mehta

Since 2013, several atheists living in Bangladesh have been brutally slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. Their crime? Daring to openly criticize religious beliefs.

Arnab Goswami is an atheist blogger who didn’t want to stay in Bangladesh and play a lifelong game of hide-and-seek with the terrorists. He recently fled to Germany with the help of the Center For Inquiry’s Secular Rescue program and was kind enough to answer my questions about his situation. Our interview has been edited for clarity.


When did you begin blogging as an atheist? Did you always speak out openly, using your real name?

I started my journey as a blogger in 2008, and my very first post was a translation of [poet Percy Bysshe] Shelly’s “Necessity of Atheism.” However, I guess my writings were more “minority right” centric rather than only atheism-based. In countries like Bangladesh, it is like a curse to be a member of the minority background, and atheists are the minority among the minorities.

In school, a friend of mine was actually beaten heavily by the teachers in front of the class because he openly declared himself to be an atheist. I suppose that experience turned me into a closeted person. Yet, a few of my close friends and family knew about my view on the globally outrageous disorder known as God.

When I started blogging, I took the pen name of Dhrubo Tara and Aranya Shouvik.

When did you realize your fellow bloggers were in danger? Was it only after they began getting slaughtered?

We knew the Islamists were almost diabolic when it comes to the religion. Still, we never thought these people could actually kill somebody just for criticizing religious boohoos.

I was worried about the criminalization of writing when I saw blasphemy laws being considered. In 2015, the government passed the infamous Article 57, which stated, “If any person deliberately publishes any material in electronic form that causes to deteriorate law and order, prejudice the image of the state or person or causes to hurt religious belief, the offender will be punished for maximum 14 years and minimum 7 years imprisonment.”

It also suggested that the punishment would not be subject to bail. Still, getting killed by the Islamists was definitely out of the equation.

Obviously, the murder of Rajib Haider made the secular bloggers realize that it was not just a verbal war anymore. When the Prime Minister said she also believed in religion and her feelings were also hurt by religious criticism, we understood the government wouldn’t protect us. Furthermore, law enforcement authorities actually published a list of 84 bloggers whom they thought to be hurting religious feelings.

What was your connection to some of the bloggers who have been murdered?

I knew most of the murdered bloggers, though not always personally. We used to blog on the same platforms and recognized each other through our writings. I met Rajib Haider, Niloy Neel and Ananta Bijoy while taking part in different protests. I was a big fan of Dr. Avijit Roy, though we never met in person.

Did you believe your life was in danger? How did you know?

My life in Bangladesh was in grave danger. I was getting regular threats on Facebook and through mobile phones. I often noticed people following me to and from my office. Even my mother received calls from time to time asking her to make me stop writing.

I heard from the security guard of my building that, once, some people came with my picture asking whether I live there or not. Actually I am still getting threats from people even after coming to Germany. Last week when I criticized the Qur’an on my Facebook page, there were around 600 comments. All but two of them wanted to kill me and rape my mother. They also tried to hack into my Facebook page. They failed there but managed to hack into my personal website. (It’s fine now.)

You moved to Germany last October. Who did you leave behind?

When I came to Germany, I had to leave my wife, my son, and my old parents in Bangladesh. Fortunately, the German Embassy has provided a visa for my wife and son. Hence, they are living with me there. My parents are all alone in Bangladesh. Some local goons are trying to take over our properties forcefully. As my parents are from the minority Hindu background, the police do not help much.

I always thought that the situation might change and I would be able to go back to my country. However, things are worse than ever. A couple of weeks ago, there was a bomb attack in Sylhet which took seven lives. The government said it was not an attack, saying the bomb was there from before.
Seeing no other alternative, I hope to apply for asylum soon.

Have you had contact with your family since the movie? How do you stay in touch with them?

Obviously, I do have contact with my parents. Though I don’t talk for a long period of time and ask only general questions since I worry that their phones might be tapped. My wife said, when she and my son were coming to Germany, she had to face an extra interview with the immigration authority which the other passengers never faced. She also added that they wrote down her and my son’s passport numbers in a file, which is not very common.

What was the role of the Secular Rescue program in helping you move?

When I communicated with the German Embassy in Bangladesh, they had asked me to provide reference letters and a source of funding. That’s when I contacted Michael De Dora from the Center For Inquiry. The Secular Rescue program not only provided me with the funding to help me get afloat once I reached Germany, but it also worked as a reference for the authenticity of my application. Organizations like these generally build up their own verification process. As a result, when I had secured funding from Secular Rescue, the embassy was more assured about the credibility of my case.

What can those of us in the U.S. do to help atheists in Bangladesh?

USA and Bangladesh have good diplomatic and business relationships. Obviously, the U.S. is the dominating country in such relationships. Unfortunately, the statements from U.S. officials about Bangladesh are not only false but ludicrous. In 2015, the State Department praised the Bangladeshi government for fighting terrorism.

In reality, the government is supporting several ultra-right Islamic fundamentalist groups.
If you want to help the atheists of Bangladesh, then please ask your government to refrain from giving such false statements. Ask your media to write about these issues without pretending Bangladesh is a progressive and secular country. Yes, there are some progressive people living there, but religious fundamentalism is at its core.

felixomor:
Who told u i was?
I called u that for thw sake of your deliverance....

* Hian *

Whalahi i go shame to identify with you as a brother, as long as you claim that the human brain sleeps.

If i see you for street, i go deny you Whalahitalai....

Ever8054:
so what do the rational man do in such situation?... try your explanation tallies with the topic thanks

The rational man either trash sense into the religitards or chain the christards with chain of ridicule.

felixomor:
Mscheww....
Get a life bro.

my brothers(pastafarian, CatfishBilly, etc) i know, certainly you're not one of them.

felixomor:
7.56 am, Tuesday morning. A working day And u r on anti-christian matters already?
Please go and check yourself. The obsession is real.

Kikikikikikiki..... And you're in time belt of spirit bah?

Ever8054:
there is something I don't understand.... and I hope atheist will take corrections from this.
...atheist do not believe in the existence of God and won't specifically say how we got here and how an unintelligent big bang was able to form male and female with there respective reproductive organs?
...but my question is this,as an atheist you don't believe in God but you won't face your big bang creator and leave us alone with our Loving God.
...why ask...questions about a God you don't believe exist?..
...why do you have problems with the ways of a God that does not exist?.
.."if God exist why should he allow suffering?..and you been answered this question over and over but you still don't believe but won't go to your big bang dady to get the answers from him and leave us to our great God who has clarify this to us?..




my conclusion is,..if you are convenience that God do not exist you should likewise ignore him and face your almighty big bang..

No rational man faces front, when a religitards is running amok around him.

felixomor:
Keep quiet.

In like fashion of Dame (so far, na only you waka come hia). You two are species of like passion.

ftechclass:
Cc lalasticlala, seun, mynd44
Wilgrea7, akintom, DoctorAlien, Everyone

God is not only an idea, but a comedy of absurdities. The God idea has created the largest collection of moronic species, that not only poison their own self with hatred and idiocy, they progress to been murderer of every good ideas.

felixomor:
Boko haram started by persecution of Christians.
.

When you can't even present the correct history of an event that's less than 10 years, how possibly can you understand, the childish fabrications in your penticoliosis?

Dear OP,

It's either you're not a christian or you don't read the word of "our Lord Jesus Christ", or you have come to love this world than the promised mansion in heaven.

Please rediscover your cross as you allow the Holy Spirit minister to you, through me to you.

Let's pray......... Amen.

Pls turn your Bible to.....


St. Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

St. Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Stay blend to Christ.

Joagbaje:
Deal .. if amputees believe why not

This is where your charlatantry and disgusting charade comes in.

"if amputee believe"

Didn't you see "amputee = constant" in my earlier post?

Scientists = constant

Malaria parasites = constant

Lonat = constant

Malaria victim took the decision to take lonat (ACTING on the KNOWLEDGE of curative POWER of lonat = faith) = healed of malaria.


Your "if amputee believe" is a mischievous and préméditated alibi, for the known outcome, that you and your God will thoroughly fail.

refiner:
In Romans 9 vs 16...so then it is not of him that willeth,nor of him that runneth,but of God that sheweth mercy.

.

Paul was confronted by the atheists of his time.

Asking him to provide a rational explanation for a God who demanded human to take personal and willful decision on whether to serve him or Satan.

Yet, this same self negating God, chose Jacob to inherit his Abrahamic promise before Jacob was conceived.

Because Paul was intellectually rotten (like many Christians today), he buried himself and Yahweh into more absurdities.

If this Yahweh is still the same today and will be same tomorrow, this may happen to the godists:

*Yahweh may turn those who claimed born again to hell when they die. After all non of the christards can question him.

*Yahweh may grant bliss to Abacha, idiamin, shekau etc. Yahweh showeth mercy to whoever he chooses.

*Yahweh may embrace Allah. The Muslims and Christians will become the newer version of Satan then.

donnie:
continue fooling around... a time will come when you will wish you could withdraw all such comments from social medis.

Kikikikikikiki... You sure feeling ashamed that your God can't dare this.

Joagbaje:
has he ever denied his healing? i still have recording of his testimony years after he got healed

This is what you/oyakhilome or your God can't do:

God = constant
Amputee = constant
You as a pastor (God's agent on earth) = constant

Now,

At unilag sport center, otem with camera crew and me with channels TV crew.

Will amputee = grown limb?

bingbagbo:
For the choir director: A psalm of David. Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! (Psalm 14:1)

Kikikikikikiki.... Christards = ignorance !

adepeter26:
Supposing hell fire dae exist ehh, I go for like am die.

You'd meet badt guys like Lucifer the giver of knowledge, Hahn, hopefullandlord, akintom, Hitchens, Dawkins etc.

Hell go too sweet but unfortunately, there is none.... Tóò bad.

I'm just imagining the world without christards and muslard.

YAHWEH

Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, whose name was revealed to Moses as four Hebrew consonants (YHWH) called the tetragrammaton.

After the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE), and especially from the 3rd century BCE on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a universal rather than merely local religion, the more common noun
Elohim, meaning “God,” tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.

At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai (“My Lord”), which was translated as Kyrios (“Lord”) in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yahweh


ALLAH

In Islamic theology , God (Arabic : ﺍﻟﻠﻪ, translit. Allāh ) is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer and judge of everything in existence.

Islam emphasizes that God is strictly singular (tawḥīd  ): unique (wāḥid  ), inherently One ( aḥad  ), also all-merciful and omnipotent.

According to Islamic teachings, beyond the Throne and according to the Quran, "No vision can grasp him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things."

The Surat 112 Al-'Ikhlāş (The Sincerity) says: "He is God, [who is] One. God, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Islam

Niflheim:
@akintom,

The "bible god" never predicted anything!!!

1.No mention of Samsung in the bible(only Samson who fought with a bone against people with spears and arrows)

2.No mention of Silicon Valley in the bible(only the valley of the shadow of ebola(death)

3.No mention of Bill Gates in the Bible(only gate of Dung)!!!

4.No mention of Siemens in the bible(they only spoke about the se.men of horses, and that it flows like a river)

DoctorAlien can make the bible say anything, that crosses his religious mind.

That guy would have thrust God to NL, if his God were to be real. So obsessed with God idea, to the point of ridicule is that dude.

#Repost
Let me say this as simple as it is.
The duration of courtship can not guarantee you full knowledge of your potential spouse.
No human is totally predictable.
People change or rather people reveal their true nature over time.

I have observed a strange trend. Every time you tell folks about you are Divorced, they often asked questions like: "how long did you court him/her?", 'did you pray well before marrying him/her', did you this, did you that and so many other irrelevant questions.

Divorce results from either mutual insanity of both parties or the unilateral insanity of one spouse.
People court for donkeys years and end up divorcing after their first marital year. Some court for a few months and experience marital bliss. There is no hard and fast rule. Just find out if can handle what you can see. One person can never determine the success of a marriage but one person can determine its failure.

Duration of courtship is one of those stereotypes that exist in marriage. It can never guarantee thing.
Marriage is a game of luck.

It is not based on how good you are.
Bad things happen to good people all the time.
You can be so knowledgeable about marriage and yet end up with someone that will help prove the futility of your knowledge.

Some spouses are just devilish.
They come into your life to mess up your reputation and make you a divorcee.

If you are lucky to have a committed spouse who is interested in the success of your marriage, celebrate him/her and add your own quota to your marital success.

Not everybody is lucky; and like I said, it is not your prayer or whareva factor you might attribute it to, It is Favour.
Copyright, Victor Ibeh 2016

OP,
You're very normal, in what you're experiencing now.

*at the age of reason, the "psychoactive effects" (like weed) of religious beliefs, begin to wear off.

This occurs when you take a break from religious sphere, and you observe your world via rational lens.

*just like the discomfort experienced by folks, on withdrawal therapy from weed, you will also feel uncomfortable withdrawing from delusionary "highs" of religious beliefs.

* just as the discomfort of weed smokers, is relieved by taking some "drags", so also will a walk into a church, where emotional and reason inhibiting songs and gist fill the air, relieve religion induced mental discomfort.

Exactly what 99% of Christians here, are prescribing for you.

Consider the following:

*ability to believe anything (true or false) is innate.

*religious faith is act of believing sth as true, when such belief is without and against REASON.

*Rational thinking and behavior, are acts that are founded on evidence informed facts/beliefs.

*now that sufficient doubt of evidential existence of God, has infected your mind, the only cure of your discomfort, is to take doses of books that teach rational thinking and behavior.

Omooba77:
I have been having running thoughts; majority of people apart from Muslims fighting Christianity today were rasied by Christian parents. Many of the the so called athiests were once vibrant members. Many of lewd singers were once choristers. Please what is happening, my heart burns!!!

Anyone who still romances religious beliefs, at the age of REASON, is suffering from either of these:

1. Self inflicted chronic delusion (SICD).

2. Social conformity syndrome (SCS).

The very day you understand the bible, same day you will become an atheist.

phlopholly:
I am convinced that if Christ came back today, He would be crucified more quickly than He was two thousand years ago. Sin never improves. Human nature has not changed.
.

Jesus will not be crucified if he shows up in this age (except he found himself in jihadists infested regions), we will simply treat his religious delusion, in same manner we are treating Oyakhilome, Adeboye, Olukoya, Oyedepo and other charlatans like them.

The human nature (the anatomical physiology - human body structure and its normal functions) CAN’T change, but can EVOLVE naturally.

It's natural for man to be angry (ferociously) in the stone age, but ferocious anger, will be considered primitive, if not psychopathic in 21st century.

You

worlings:
‎
Back to forgiveness, I think it is pure mischief when we insinuate that Christianity is simply closing eyes to what is wrong because that.

If there's any mischief, dishonesty and crass intellectual emptiness, they are all inherent in Christian doctrines.

Jesus himself, in his beatitudes, recorded in Mathew chapter 5, commanded the the Christians to do the absurdities.

St. Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
St. Matthew 5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.
St. Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire.
St. Matthew 5:25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
St. Matthew 5:26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
St. Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
St. Matthew 5:39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
St. Matthew 5:40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
St. Matthew 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
St. Matthew 5:43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
St. Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,




The only mischief, is the fact that the OP never quoted a single verse, from this verses above. Even when they addressed the issue of discussion, in most fundamental ways.

worlings:
you can forgive a person who stole from you while also asking for a recompense and repayment of those stolen funds. ‎
You can forgive your boss for mistreating you while also asking for a reinstatement or a legal compensation for the many hours you invested in the company. A workman shall receive his compensation.


As written by Barr. Enwongo Cleopas

The above is mere opinions of the OP. Biblically, forgiveness is letting go of the act of offence, with all its effects. You haven't forgiven, when you turn around to demand compensation.

At such point like this, when Christian doctrines betrays impracticability and absurdities, most Christians results to obfuscation and semantics.

This is an act of cowardice.

urheme:
I don't know why you should mention my name.....
you don't know catfishbilly is a dangerous doctor......sin and iniquities bring back sickness after being healed.....when God touch you,... you do not go back and live your formal life of sin or it will get worse.

but the foolish thing the man did is to have catfishbilly as his doctor....he will die quick.

i still maintain that God can heal anything, whether it has a name or not,.... and irrespective of your faith.......just keep sin out of your life.

Stop putting this sadistic and heinous thoughts forward. It's a most wicked and savagery behavior, to harass the sick and weak with this delusionary filth, fed you by deluded pastors.

Your God or Jesus doesn't heal anything. If there are any groups of unsympathetic sadists, the Christians rank highest.

A88C:
1 DEFINE GOD？
This question may sound absurd to him but it is logical （example）if i argue that this is not a religious thread.i should be able to give an understanding of what is expected of a religious thread.

ask them to define God and you will realised they have less to say but much to argue.

2ask them personally to tell you how they belive GOD do not exist personally not using a generic argument.

you will realised again they will have less to say but much to argue.

THE BELIVER CAN ADD MORE WHILE THE THREAD IS OPEN FOR A DEBATE WITH AN ATHIEST

A psychoanalysis of the mentality behind this moniker, revealed one of the cowards, who has thoroughly been stripped, of idiocy that's embedded in Christian religion.

Putting out thread like this, further shows how infirmed most apologists are, when it comes to intelligent thinking.

The forerunners of this imbecilic behavior, are now too ashamed, to be identified with the foolishness, that attends the claim of existence of Gods, that are obviously devoid of any substantial evidence.

frank317:
Unfortunately flex is dumb and does not have the ability to recognise dumb questions

That medic whose brain sleeps, will be a nice study in twisted mentality.

He's so warped minded, that he joyfully salivate on feces.

Kenneth4u205:
I will shed more light as professor of bible. God didn't confuse them because they are about to get to heaven. he confused them because they broke his commanded to multiply and fill the earth. in genesis 1:28, God decreed man to multiply and filled the whole universe. he want man to spread all over the world. to discover other continent and resources.

genesis 1:28

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

now fast forward to Genesis 11:4,we see those guys breaking God commandment and decree by saying that we don't want to fill the whole earth. let us build a tower and a wall around us so that we wouldn't scatter and fill the earth.

Gen 11:4

They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”


so in order to make them to spread out all over the world, he confused their language. if you read other apocrypha books like jubilee ,Enoch,etc, you will see how they were dying in seconds while building the tower out of too much stress and shortage of food. the whole human race would have died in the process of building that tower out of stress and hunger. God doesn't want all his creature to perish that way out of stupidity like APC zombies.

Prof of Bible,

Assuming this story is literarily true, and that your God is intelligent as it's claimed, the reason for the invocation of diverse language is bereft of intelligence.

The following factors will lead to human spread, the tower of babel/homogeneous language notwithstanding:

*procreation
*life necessities/challenges
*competition
*freewill
*association
*conflict etc

You see how the whole Bible gist on this, is mere myths.

A88C:
well since you could not take the challenge i assume your presentation could not hold water. you said there is nothing everlasting and i said you lie, i provide example. my God is everlasting and still living. the challenge still hold define who is GOD？

I commit your mind into the hands of FSM, who's able to redirect your path to sound reasoning, from the god delusion dark tunnel.

A88C:
you got to measure it for youself.you belive there is no GOD right then proof it .for instance if i tell you,this is not a religious thread i should be able to give what religious thread contain.i challenge you to define GOD

You're the one who just claimed to be romancing an "everlasting living God". The burden to tell me how logical that is, is perfectly on you.

Since you don't know what logic means, i will help your difficulty.

Assuming your God is living, it can't be everlasting.

Because nothing is everlasting, that's at the same time living.

When i said that you're a baby godist, you arrogantly and ignorantly refuse to to say present sir.

A88C:
call it whatever you like.I do not belong to any one.i belong to everlasting living GOD.

factual knowledge should be base on fact and well tailored logic and not just ur belive.

How logical is your belief in "everlasting living God"?