By M Ahmedullah, 20 May 2016

There is a current draft law in Bangladesh prepared to deal with cybercrime. It includes ‘deliberately defaming someone or hurting anyone’s religious sentiment’. It stipulates a sentence of two years imprisonment. Of course, defaming someone innocent by someone who has access to the internet is unacceptable.

Only proper evidence-based investigative journalism, where the public interest is at stake, can publish findings that may harm someone’s reputation. However, anyone using digital technology to make defamatory allegations against someone else cannot be accepted. A measured law that punishes the perpetrators in such a case can be positive, but only if the justice process is free and fair.

However, as there is low confidence in the Bangladesh justice system, any such law has the potential to do more harm than good. How would a law against hurting the religious sentiments of the people help protect religion or religious people? I don’t think it can and I am also deeply worried about such a law.

It would reduce the levels of critical thinking in Bangladesh necessary for success in today’s world. All human beings have to compete in the globalised modern world and the competitions are getting stronger and more challenging. Unless people in our country develop their creativity, imagination and knowledge base and learn to engage at the cutting edge levels, they will fall behind and find themselves dominated by outsiders.

I know that in a country like Bangladesh, hurting religious feelings can trigger off violence and potentially large violence. But is it the role of the authorities to offer protection to feelings that may also have other dangers? For example, as has been the case on many occasions, people using the pretext of someone or some groups hurting the religious feelings have organised rampage against minorities. They hurt many innocent people, and the law enforcers were either unable or unwilling to do anything to protect the people facing the wraths of the mob.

Should not the government instead bring in and strictly implement laws against mob violence and mob wraths, rather than a law that provides an excuse to anyone who wishes to generate a mob frenzy against someone or some groups they don’t like? It is the absence of justice that provides an excuse for people to use the pretext of ‘hurting religious feelings’ to undertake such a crime.

On other hand, as people in Bangladesh are very sensitive to religious feelings, the government should try to develop a new approach to promote more tolerance and fairness between groups, rather than bring in a law that cannot work in practice. Even though there is a demand for such a law from large sections of the people the government should explore all angles to arrive at a better solution to the problem.

Also, how will such a law protect people against hurting their religious sentiments and help believers in their spiritual development/quest? How will they face the wider world where people are constantly developing their minds, creativity, understanding and intellectual capacity?

Such a law will in practice damage religious believers in the long run as it will make them more impotent in facing the world. It may protect them a little from developing unpleasant feelings in the short run. But such protection will hinder their growth and make them more useless in their engagement with the wider world. They will develop inadequate and insufficient knowledge and understanding of the world.

I live in the UK and, as a Muslim, I welcome criticism of my religion from any quarters. Although I wish the criticisms to be civilised and rational, I know that this will not be so in practice. There are many kinds of people in the world and, especially now with the internet, anyone can and many will say nearly anything they want.

This means that my wish for criticisms to be more civilised and rational will be violated more often than not. So, what should I do? As I can do nothing about it I should try to turn this into something as positive, if possible. I could become negative, of course, which is another option, and do something similar to our vile critics. Although many would and do opt for that option. But the other option is much better, that is, to become hardened through critical engagement with all kinds of very challenging criticisms.

Over the years, I have seen the development of a more humane Islam – not the so-called reformed Islam – in countries in the West. In contrast, in countries like Bangladesh, over the centuries intolerant practices and many unexamined traditions have become part of our mainstream religious and communal life. These harm our religion and prevent the growth of our spiritual soul as intended by religion.

Essentially, religion preaches truths, justice, morality, equality and fairness. However, we all know how that works out in practice, with many exceptions, of course.

Many religious leaders and followers not only fail to live up to the standards of their religion, they are actually responsible for many injustices in the world, especially with respect to how our society treats women.

Searching for the truth requires a developed critical mind, which can only be possible if the mind is subjected to criticisms. Protecting people from their religious sentiments being hurt will in practice prevent the development of their critical minds. The practice of justice requires one to have good knowledge and a developed mind that can see and evaluate all sides without bias. Morality requires one to understand good from bad, not only in theory but in practice, with respect to concrete human situations/experiences. Without a developed critical mind, morality and moral consistency become very difficult and probably near impossible to achieve. Delivering fairness and equality or treating people fair and equal in different situations also require an experienced and critical mind.

The proposed law will not only not protect believers from their religious sentiments being hurt, it will in practice contribute further towards their degeneration. Let the human mind develop unfettered through creating or increasing the scope for criticism against religion/religious beliefs. Closing debates and protecting religion and religious people from critical challenges will mostly hurt the very religion and people that it wants to protect.

Those religious people and leaders who take on the challenges of criticisms by critically engaging with criticisms will do a great favour to religion. They will help develop within religious believers stronger and more critically thought through arguments for religion. Those who try to protect religion in a country like Bangladesh through such a law will only help towards keeping our intellectual development to a very low level. Our religious people will remain vulnerable and when exposed to criticisms they will not be equipped to face them effectively.

There are consequences of policies and actions and no wishful thinking and plans can alter that fact.