The dangers of being an atheist...

[JimC]

From the Age:

Atheist US Avijit Roy blogger killed in machete attack in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Machete-wielding assailants hacked to death a blogger in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, in the latest of a series of attacks on writers who support freethinking values in the Muslim-majority nation.

The attack comes amid a crackdown on hardline Islamist groups, which have increased activities in recent years in the South Asian nation.

Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, and his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Ahmed, were attacked on Thursday while returning from a book fair. Ms Ahmed was seriously injured.

Police retrieved two machetes from the site, but have not yet identified any suspects.

They said they were investigating the involvement of Ansarullah Bangla Team, an Islamist extremist group based in Bangladesh that claimed responsibility on Friday for the murder.

Dr Roy's family said Islamist radicals had been threatening him in recent weeks because he maintained a blog, "Mukto-mona", or "Freemind", that highlighted humanist and rationalist ideas and condemned religious extremism.

"Islamist radicals are behind my son's murder," Ajay Roy told reporters on Friday after filing a murder case with police.

"We mourn but we are not out," read a black banner on the site.

The Centre for Inquiry, a US-based nonprofit group that Dr Roy wrote for, said it was "shocked and heartbroken" by the murder.

"Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of reason, science and free expression in a country where those values have been under heavy attack," it said in a statement.

Media group Reporters Without Borders rated Bangladesh 146th among 180 countries in a ranking of press freedom last year.

In 2013, religious extremists targeted several secular bloggers who had demanded capital punishment for Islamist leaders convicted of war crimes during Bangladesh's war for independence.

Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed that year in a similar attack near his home in Dhaka after he led one such protest demanding capital punishment.

In 2004, Humayun Azad, a secular writer and professor at Dhaka University, was also attacked by militants while returning home from a Dhaka book fair. He later died in Germany while undergoing treatment.

[Brian Peacock]

Where's Stein's outrage when you need it?

[Collector1337]

Being atheist, reason enough to own a... wait, never mind.

[hackenslash]

Some of you may remember him, as he was a member of RDF. We chatted on FB a few times.

[JimC]

Some of you may remember him, as he was a member of RDF. We chatted on FB a few times.

Do you remember his username on RDF?

[hackenslash]

Avijit.

[Hermit]

Ah yes. He posted five times at RDF in February 2010 on the topic of International Journal of Cardiology publishing a Muslim tract masquerading as a scientific paper. The interval between submission and acceptance of said paper suggests some skulduggery in connection with the owners of the journal experiencing considerable financial difficulties. Avijit mentioned that one theory was that certain interests, possibly located in Riyadh or Jeddah, may have donated a sizeable amount of money to Elsevier in exchange for having the article published.

[hackenslash]

Interestingly, Elsevier is also the publisher of the Journal of Theoretical Biology, which is the journal in which Atheistoclast has had a paper accepted for publication...

[Hermit]

LOL. Elsevier is definitely not a shining example of rigorously peer reviewed academic papers then. I wonder if the company's publications have been drummed out of existence by now. They certainly should be. Frauds, one and all.

[hackenslash]

Asshat's paper is pending publication as we speak.

[Brian Peacock]

Interestingly, Elsevier is also the publisher of the Journal of Theoretical Biology, which is the journal in which Atheistoclast has had a paper accepted for publication...

Blimey, that name's one for the 'Where are they now?' file.

[hackenslash]

Dig that file out and enter in the location line 'getting the shit kicked out of him on Talk Rational'.