How Do The Religious Extremists Win

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 HOW DO THE RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS WIN?
Simple : the religious extremists must win upfront.
To win upfront they must stop and prevent any and all discussion and questioning of their beliefs, on pain of death. According to them the punishment for blasphemy and apostasy is death. Of course blasphemy and apostasy shall be defined by them. What a neat trick.
'In February 2013, Qaradawi stated on Egyptian television that the death penalty is a necessity for apostates'



 
So everywhere in the world these people sustain themselves by denying anyone from questioning their beliefs - on the pain of death. Or being fined, jailed or whipped. 
That is why these people are not educated.  How can you you call yourself educated when your opinions are "protected" by throwing all dissenting views into jail? Or you can kill them? Or declaring them heretics and deviants?
Lets say that somewhere there is a Univeristy of Zulumaat Min Al Nur. Lets say at this University they insist that there were magical flying elephants with outsized ears which flapped like birds' wings and flew the elephant into the sky. 

Anyone who does not agree or questions this magical flying elephant will not only be kicked out of the university but he will also be labelled a religious heretic and jailed. So how many students do you think will dare to present their PhD thesis to disprove that elephants could fly? ANSWER : ZERO. Who wants to go to jail? Who wants to lose their degree? Who wants to see their parents suffer? Who is going to pay back their student loan?

Herein lies the solution to get rid of religious extremism - open and unfettered discussion of religion by anyone and everyone. Free discussion is the only silver bullet that is needed to slay these demons. The moment you can have free discussions, open debate and people can express diverse views that will also be the end of irrational and "we have no evidence" religion.  The extremists will suffer cardiac arrest.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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