Curriculum for Cohesion deplores the terrorist attacks in Paris

By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson

17 November 2015. The murderous acts in Paris of Friday 13 November constitute the most barbaric terrorist outrage by any legal and human reckoning. Such deeds are outlawed by European state law, international law, Shari’a law which condemns in absolute terms those who cause corruption and sow fear in the land, as well as by the natural laws of basic human compassion and decency.

It is almost beyond comprehension that people who claim to act on Qur’anic authority can think that unarmed civilian diners and concert-goers can be the legitimate targets of a justified Islamic armed attack. It shows how deeply the violent ‘Us’ v. ‘Them’ Islamist world view is embedded in the minds of DAESH extremists and causes them to see the rest of the world as sub-human.

National governments, including the British government, are rightly focussing on the need to increase the quality and quantity of security measures taken to protect their peoples from further acts of terrorism in the short term.

Curriculum for Cohesion is focussing on developing the type of education that enables young people and professionals to manage and be enhanced by religious plurality and cultural diversity, as well as enabling them intellectually and practically to tackle the deep-seated ideological falsehoods, absent opportunities and geo-political tensions that lie at the heart of violent Islamist extremism and other types of extremist ideology.

May God the Exalted grant the souls of those departed and their families and friends His peace. Amin.