Even if he self-identifies as atheist, atheists and atheism are not to blame for his heinous actions. If Hicks is found guilty, there is no doubt that he alone should bear the responsibility for his actions and be punished accordingly. But we shouldn’t expect them or any organization to apologize for the murderous actions of an individual. In a move familiar to many Muslim organizations that are called upon to denounce the actions of a violent co-religionist, the American Atheists organization issued a statement condemning the murders of the three Muslim students. Being mentally unstable or a generally angry person and being motivated by religious hate are not mutually exclusive. But that in and of itself doesn’t make Hicks an equal opportunist when it comes to his choice of alleged victims.
Neighbors have said that Hicks was prone to outbursts and that he made everyone feel unsafe, Muslim or otherwise. And just a couple weeks ago, a Texas state senator effectively questioned the loyalties of Muslim-Americans, reportedly posting on her Facebook page that she had left instructions with her office that Muslim visitors “publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws.” If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I.”įollowing the shootings, the attorney of Hicks’ wife said that her husband “had a problem with many of his neighbors,” and that the “ victims were at the wrong time and the wrong place.” But when we consider Hicks’ own comments and postings on social media in the context of much of the anti-Muslim rhetoric we see in the media and elsewhere, it is hard to see Tuesday’s tragedy as a genuinely random incident.Īnti-Muslim hate crimes are five times more common today than they were before 9/11. Although Dawkins condemned the murders on Twitter, it is hard not to recall the comments he and other New Atheists like Sam Harris and Bill Maher have made about Islam in the past.ĭawkins himself said he considers this religion of some 1.6 billion people “ as one of the great evils in the world.” For his part, Hicks allegedly wrote, “When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. Hicks’ postings on social media suggest that he is not only anti-religion, but like many prominent New Atheists, likely has a particular contempt for Islam. ” ‘Honest to God,’ she said, ‘He hates us for what we are and how we look,” he recalled. Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of two of the victims, said his daughter – who wore the Muslim headscarf and lived next door to Hicks – had reportedly told her family a week earlier “that she had a hateful neighbor.” The News and Observer reported that he also said that in the past, she had told her family that Hicks picked on her and her husband and would talk to them while carrying his gun in his belt, making them feel extremely uncomfortable. As Reza Aslan explained in a recent essay, anti-theists often view “religion as an insidious force that must be rooted from society – forcibly if necessary.” The lead photo on Hicks’ page talked about how he wanted “religion to go away,” and in a 2012 post, he quoted heavily from biologist and so-called “New Atheist” Richard Dawkins. On his Facebook page, Hicks reportedly showed his support for “anti-theism,” the active opposition of religious belief.
But while that may be true, the evidence suggests that Hicks had an underlying animosity towards the victims because of their beliefs.
Chapel Hill police have said that an ongoing dispute over a parking place may have been a contributing factor. People don’t die over parking spots.Ĭraig Stephen Hicks was arrested on Tuesday over the deaths of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Many have been asking whether Tuesday’s horrific execution-style killing of three Muslim students in North Carolina was due to a dispute over a parking spot.
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