On one hand, the likes of Philip Mudd, CNN’s counterterrorism analyst, believes religion has little to no role to play in the terrorism of groups like ISIS. He would simply dismiss these extremists as thugs and bandits. On the other hand, harsh critics like Sam Harris, take their cue from the extremists’ own words. They admittedly incorporate Islamic doctrine and a manifest Islamist agenda in their mission.

I make no secret of the fact I favour Sam Harris’ analysis. Mudd’s awkward interview with Stephen Colbert in 2013 comes to mind. In it, Mudd denounces TV (as a medium) while on TV promoting his book on Al Qaeda and refuses to acknowledge the contradiction in such a position. What a dismissive and commanding understanding of the subject. One has to wonder if this is the type of thinking that informs opinions that ignore the link between religion and extremism. I should buy Mudd’s book.

Let’s pretend then, for a moment, that terrorism is completely devoid of religious extremism and we can safely store it in some bubble that floats appeasingly disconnected from religion. There is a deluge of data that would show links between religious practice and human rights violations. Last year and in 2016, there have been at least 5 murders of atheist and secular bloggers in Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country. Here in Canada, we ponder refuge for Raif Badawi, a secular blogger, jailed in Saudi Arabia. As we know, Saudi Arabia, like Iran, has questionable records on human rights, and more specifically, women’s rights. Iran subjugates its female citizens to its men. Women are immobile, socially and physically, without the permissions of their male counterparts and are forced to wear “cloth bags” lest it offend religious notions of modesty. Mind you, conditions are slowly changing in both Iran and Saudi Arabia, but with still a great gap between their ways of life and those of more secular countries.

There are 13 countries in the world where atheism is punishable by death and they all happen to be Muslim majority countries (www.thewire.com, 2013):

1. Afghanistan
2. Iran
3. Malaysia
4. Maldives
5. Mauritania
6. Nigeria
7. Pakistan
8. Qatar
9. Saudi Arabia
10. Somalia
11. Sudan
12. United Arab Emirates
13. Yemen

Some of these countries are even a bit surprising. At any rate, imagine that terrorism is still neatly in that bubble where we all feel better about our “racist” sensibilities and “religious” refutations. These death penalties listed above are sanctioned by law. A far cry from what many among us call banditry and thuggery. Right?

Here in Canada, we face considerably less restrictive and corporeal punishment for religious infractions. But admittedly, we still face our issues with secularism to put it simply. The Catholic School Board, which is redundant and costly, and Trinity Western University Law School which promotes a homophobic student campus life are just two. These issues make light of the effect of religion across the spectrum, without actual, “terrorism”. Religion, like Christopher Hitchens would have said, influences many aspects of even contemporary life. As said before, 80%-90% of the world is religious to some degree. As an atheist, this is disheartening, but also very telling as to the sway it holds. Is it that difficult to imagine religion promoting and controlling murderous behaviour?

Maybe, in more secular countries, we’ve forgotten what being religious is like. It may be that we simply just don’t believe another human being can carry out violent acts based on old books, and maybe that’s where we lose some perspective when we see bloodied faces and headless bodies on TV.