Let's just call them superstitious

Yesterday, as I walked home from my work at Vasagatan, I saw hundreds of people walking on Västerbron bridge making their way home, after the attack at #Drottninggatan. My heart goes out to those hurt and killed by the terrorists.

In ancient Rome, before Christianity and before Islam, there was an expression for people who think they are gods or who think they could manipulate gods to do their bidding: They were not seen as religious, but superstitious (superstitio).

Imagine if we could deny the "religious" label to people who do not respect the right to life or the UN declaration of human rights. We simply deny them the protection and respect we extend to others to worship in freedom. Criminals will not longer be able to hide behind a perversion of piety.

People who preach hate are just recruiters for criminal organizations and networks and should be treated as such. Insofar as their ramblings can be interpreted as threats or incitement to violence, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, without any regard to hurting religious feelings, since this is not religion.

We are entering an age where small groups can do a lot of damage; a sect of a couple of thousand tops were close to wiping out many many people in Japan some years ago. Three times. The freedom of communication we have now will in the future mandate a lot more physical protection. And we need to communicate more in person:

If any people are close enough to hurt you, you need to communicate with them, engage them. We must reach the people who have Internet fueled make-believe communities in their heads.

Theirs is a path of bitterness, hate and delusion, their perceived self-worth oscillating between the extremes of self-hatred and self-aggrandizement.
Our path is one of love, joy and freedom, knowing in our hearts without hesitation the true value and power of humans. We will prevail.