Taliban killed a Bengali woman.

I personally knew Sushmita Banerjee. She came to my home to tell her stories when I lived in Kolkata in 2004-2007. She told me many horror stories of her life– how she a Bengali woman married an Afghan and how she escaped from Afghanistan, came back to Kolkata, wrote her memoir, and became popular overnight.

I was really shocked when I heard that Sushmita was shot dead by the Taliban in Afghanistan. I have no idea why she went to Afghanistan. Her decision of going back to that country was no doubt wrong. Was that for love? Love kills women.

Sushmita escaped the Taliban in 1995. This year she returned to Afghanistan, the country which was supposed to be better now, and started working as a health assistence at a local hospital. After months of working quite peacefully, Sushmta had to die. The Taliban came to her husband’s house at night, tied up her husband and others, dragged her out of the house and killed her! Do the Taliban need to tie up others when they kill one? May be they need. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe someone from her in-laws informed the Taliban that Sushmita, the ‘immoral woman’, who fled husband’s house and wrote bad about them was there, maybe those men knew about her deeds and whereabouts from other sources. Or they were angry with her because she worked outside home and gave vaccines. Polio activists get killed in those areas. Maybe she did not wear her burqa properly. I can’t stop thinking of her.

I do not know about the conspiracy behind killing Sushmita, but I know why she was killed. She was killed, no matter by whom, the Taliban or not, because of patriarchy , misogyny and religion.

Prayer doesn’t work, and you know it, Mr. Pope!

Pope announced a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria.

Francis is asking people to join him next weekend in a day of fasting for peace in Syria. Francis invited people of all faiths to join him Saturday evening in St. Peter’s Square to invoke the “gift” of peace for Syria, the rest of the Middle East and worldwide where there is conflict. Declaring “no more war,” Francis spoke to tens of thousands of people gathered in the square on Sunday. He says the “world needs to see gestures of peace and hear words of peace.” He says that only dialogue, and not armed intervention, can end Syria’s civil war. The five-hour-long prayer vigil in the square Saturday will last until midnight.

Mr. Pope, I believe you know very well that prayer and fasting do not work. Could you show any evidence of a successful prayer or fasting? I don’t think you will be able to show anything. Why don’t you cancel your stupid prayer program and try to motivate warmongers to stop war? You guys always fool around. For once, just stop it.

Good news from Egypt.

Egypt’s new constitution limits the role of Islam.

Where the new constitution differs most significantly from the old one is on issues of Islam’s role in governance and law. The 2012 constitution included three articles that broadly defined and significantly expanded the role of Islamic jurisprudence.

Article 2, which dates back to the 1971 constitution, establishes the Sunni branch of Islamic jurisprudence as the basic guideline for legislation. The 2012 constitution added two others: Article 4, which stated that Al Azhar, Egypt’s highest institution of Islamic learning, should be consulted on how to define Islamic law, and Article 219, which effectively includes all Sunni jurisprudence since Islam’s founding as relevant to Egyptian legislation. Secular activists and constitutional experts have harshly criticized Article 219, saying it was open to overly broad interpretation and could effectively be used to affect every aspect of Egyptian law.

In the new draft constitution, Articles 4 and 219 have essentially been deleted.

This is not the best draft constitution but much better than Mr Morsi’s constitution. The new draft prevents people from their right to freedom of expression. Among 50 members who are working to draft the new constitution, only four are women.

I hope good sense will prevail and they will learn how to respect everyone’s human rights and treat women as equal human beings. In the meantime, it would be wonderful if Islamism died a natural death.

Indian Godman is in jail for sexual assault

Gandhi grew up in Gujarat. He was called Bapu. Asaram grew up in Gujarat. He is also called Bapu. Gandhi was hugely popular among Indians. Asaram has been hugely popular among Indians. Gandhi used young girls for his celibacy test, even when he was over 70. Asaram is now 72, and he rapes young girls.

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Asaram is now in jail. But most Indians still support him and believe that he is not guilty. Most Indians support Gandhi. They believe Gandhi had the right to make young girls naked and sleep with him. Godmen exploit people for wealth and fame and sex. God-fearing people go to Godmen to get their blessings, because they are told that Godmen have a direct connection with God.

You may imprison a rapist Godman. But it will not make Godman business disappear from superstitious society. You will not be able to defeat god beliefs, god-men, superstitions by any other weapons but science. You bet.

No More War, Please.

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Obama has authorized the use of military force to punish Syria for a chemical weapons attack that killed more than a thousand people. Protracted and expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have left Americans reluctant to get involved in Middle Eastern conflicts. A poll showed that 80% Americans do not want the US to intervene in Syria. But Obama, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, wants war. He doesn’t mind if hundreds of thousands of people get killed because of his WMD, weapons of mass destruction.

Men secretly want their wives or girlfriends to be less successful than them because it boosts their self-esteem!

Study says: Men secretly want their wives or girlfriends to be less successful than them because it boosts their self-esteem!

Although they may pretend to celebrate their partners’ achievements, men prefer to see their wives and girlfriends take a nose dive at work and in their private life.

Unlike women, whose self-esteem is unaffected by their husbands’ and boyfriends’ successes and failures, men’s sense of self-worth takes a bruising when their partner excels in social or intellectual situations.

This is especially true when women shine at a task or in a situation where their husband or boyfriend has previously failed, researchers said.

But even in situations where the two are not competing with one another, men’s self-esteem still plunges when their partners do well at something because they feel it reflects badly on them.

So true! I know this too well. All my husbands and boyfriends were so jealous whenever I got success. They tried their best to suppress me. I had to leave them because they started abusing me out of jealousy. They were successful in their fields, but my success made them furious.

Men felt worse about themselves after recalling their partner’s achievements than their failures, and their self-esteem was most damaged if their partner had succeeded in a situation where they had not.

Poor men and their poor self-esteem! I feel sorry for them!

India is celebrating 5241st birth anniversary of Krishna the God

India is celebrating the birth anniversary of Krishna, the god.

Monotheistic religions dominate the world. The only influential polytheistic religion in the world today is Hinduism. Krishna is a mythical Hindu God. The holy book of Hinduism is Bhagavad Gita which is all about the conversation between the warrior Arjuna and the God Krishna. The life of Krishna is a wonderful fairy tale. It has lots of miracles, a river saved Krishna’s father from sinking and a snake protected Krishna from rains, a voice from the sky told the fate of the king of Krishna’s village. A fetus from Krishna’s mother’s womb transferred to his step mother’s womb. Krishna opened his mouth, and a whole universe was seen in his mouth. Krishna lifted up a mountain on his small finger to save the villagers from torrential rains, Krishna killed many demons and he made Draupadi’s clothes endless when she asked for his help from being unclothed by some goons.

All Gods are fictitious. But millions of people seriously believe that holy books of Gods are facts, not fictions. A place in India has been kept which was believed as the birthplace of Krishna, the God. Hindus go to that holy place everyday to show their love and respect for Krishna. Beliefs are contagious. Beliefs are dangerous too.

Thousands of years ago there was probably a man called Krishna who had good qualities, and people in Mathura called him God, and then a God-story was made.

Everybody has the right to blaspheme.

India is a country of religion and spirituality. It has a law against blasphemy.

Section 295A, Indian Penal Code: Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.— Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

The Indian Penal Code embodied some relics of English medieval ecclesiastical law.
It is high time India changes its penal code as it does not have many safeguards to freedom of speech and expression.

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Today The Times Of India, the most prestigious, popular, and the most circulated newspaper in India published my tweet about blasphemy : Everybody has the right to blaspheme.

I believe the editors of The Times of India believe that everybody has the right to blaspheme. I believe they will do everything possible to make India abolish the law against blasphemy. If India abolished it, Bangladesh and Pakistan would be inspired to abolish their anti-blasphemy laws. The subcontinent would be a sane place.