Freedom of religion in Bangladesh

"This statement connects, Tawhid, or the oneness of Allah, to the BNP's idea of Bangladeshi nationalism and reinforces the idea that freedom of religion in Bangladesh was conceived in an Islamic way, not a liberal secular way"

"In May, President Hasina stated that there is indeed freedom of religion in Bangladesh but in the same breath she spoke against speech which spread “filth” against religion,"

"While technically there is freedom of religion in Bangladesh, intimidation and discrimination are often used to corral the gospel witness. Pray that Christians would be fearless in their testimony of Christ, ...."

"Bangladesh had emerged as a secular state on the grave of Pakistani religious ideals [but] pro-Pakistanis captured power after the 1975 assassination of Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman [and inserted] discriminatory clause(s) between Muslim and non-Muslim [that were not included] in the original constitution of Bangladesh. ...After the assassination of Bangabandhu, two military rulers. General Ziaur Rahman and General H.M. Ershad removed the roots of the country's secular, non-communal and humane ideals. They changed the constitution to serve a vested quarter and thus eliminated the clause of equal rights for the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists along with Indigenous ethnic communities like Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Maug, Hajong, etc. In the original constitution, which was written in 1972, Article 12 in Part II enshrined 'secularism and freedom of Religion' in the section called Fundamental Principle of State Policy. General Ziaur Rahman's military government totally erased this part of the constitution and that was how the religious and ethnic minority groups became second- class citizens to suffer state discrimination.’"

"But the problem is that the Islamist extremists do not want our right to. That I would not practice religion, they don’t tolerate this. They want to kill us. If we say anything against religious fanaticism, then they come to kill us. So this is a problem. They don’t believe in freedom of expression. I believe in freedom of expression. I believe not only my freedom of expression, I believe my enemy’s freedom of expression… But most of the time, we find that extremists do not believe in freedom of expression of other people who do not accept their ideas."