From: Subimal Chakrabarty subimal@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Sep 25, 2015 10:02 am
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] We must talk about hurting 'religious sentiments'
On Sep 21, 2015, at 9:16 PM, Shah Deeldar shahdeeldar@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
From: "'mahfuzur@aol.com' mahfuzur@aol.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2015 1:57 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] We must talk about hurting 'religious sentiments'
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Posted by: "mahfuzur@aol.com" <mahfuzur@aol.com>
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Friday, September 25, 2015
Re: [mukto-mona] We must talk about hurting 'religious sentiments'
I am absolutely flabbergasted by Mr. Deeldar's response. Are we on the same planet? Are we talking about the same article?
Perhaps it will help if Mr. Deeldar will kindly quote from my article sentences that suggest I call for killing, or defend killing of, freethinkers. Normally, Mr. Deeldar's comments would not deserve a response, but these are so outrageous that I cannot say they are normal. I would therefore plead with him to quote some sentences from the article to substantiate his astonishing conclusions.
I am old, and I have written in a prestigious newspaper of Dhaka over the last 20 years or so. I have been told that I write English well. I have even a small reputation of being able to write clearly. That is all the more reason for my puzzle: how could I have given the impression Mr. Deeldar got?
I am not just an "economist". Over these years I have written in defence of reason and freethinking and against obscurantism. Please, M. Deeldar, oblige me with the quotes I am requesting. Perhaps there is an outrageous misunderstanding lurking somewhere.
Mahfuzur Rahman
-----Original Message-----
I am pained by Shah Deeldar's shallow reading of a well thought and well written article by Mahfuzur Rahman. I will request him to read the article one more time.
It is really unfortunate that neither the policy makers in AL and the allied parties nor the intellectuals who rally around them do the real talk. Even the leftist forces not partnering with the present government are afraid of being argumentative or maybe for their own political agenda are unwilling to be argumentative. I hope this good article will be read by them and it will be able to make them reconsider their silence, inaction, passivity, and indifference.
Sent from my iPhone
When a Bangladeshi Economist defends the killing of freethinkers, it shows the intellectual quality of our professionals. Why there should be any automatic respect for any ideology or religion? Why a person like Niladri can't question about Islam when It boasts for its supremacy over all other religions? How did Niladri offend Islam by asking questions? Can it be so shallow? Why Niladri had to conform with certain religious ideology, which he might have considered as weak and fragile? And, people like Mr. Rahman and his assassins have proved Niladri's points. Lets not forget that this is 21 century and people are sending probes to planet Mars as we speak.
The more Niladris would make this world far better than having more people with herd mentality. How can Mr. Rahman expect a total respect when Niladi did not respect his parents' religion either. Why this a bad thing for an young fearless thinker?
On Monday, September 21, 2015 8:58 PM, "Jiten Roy jnrsr53@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
The term "Defaming Religion" is coined by Islamists to advance their hatred towards anybody, who do not conform to their prescription of Islam. This term has no meaning to the followers of other religions. As a result, one can defame any other religion, no one will pay any attention.
We must talk about hurting 'religious sentiments,
Here is a subject we do not discuss. We do not want to discuss it because it is considered delicate. Perhaps also because it is hard to define. But we can hardly afford not to discuss it. Here are some thoughts on the subject in an article in The Daily Observer. Please click on the link below. I tried to publish the original Bengali version of the article but found no takers. Too delicate for them.
Mahfuzur Rahman