Nonsense from the Australian Police Commissioner

Sky news reported:

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has faced criticism for saying the Bondi Beach terrorist attack was “not motivated by religion”.

Commissioner Barrett had stated in the aftermath of the December 14 attack that the alleged terrorists were “inspired by Islamic State”.

“These are the alleged actions of those have aligned themselves to a terrorist organisation – not a religion,” she said.

This is just bizarre nonsense, where the AFP Commissioner seems more worried about the sensibilities of adherents of the religion of the terrorists, than the victims.

It is not a binary choice between terrorist organisations and religion. Many terrorist organisations are religious in nature. For example the IRA was primarily a Catholic institution.

It would be quite legitimate to say that the terrorists had an extreme view of their religion that is rejected by the vast majority of Muslims (such as Ahmed al-Ahmed who disarmed one of the terrorists). But you can’t say that the terrorists were not motivated by religion when in fact that appeared to be their primary motivation.

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