Incest and Atheism

Are Incest and sexual misconduct very common in Western countries or among atheists?

This is not the currently discussed rape case of the 11‑year‑old girl; this is an incident from November 24, 2024, in Parshuram, Feni. According to the case details, on November 24, 2024, the girl’s family filed a case accusing Mozammofar Ahmed of rape. After his arrest, he had to spend one month and two days in prison. Following the incident, he lost his position as the local mosque’s imam and was also dismissed from his job at the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh.

During the investigation, CID’s forensic examination found no evidence supporting the allegations against Mozammofar. Later, during questioning, the girl stated that her older brother, Morshed, had been sexually abusing her for a long time. She also claimed that her family members implicated Mozammofar in the case to hide the real incident.

After Morshed was arrested and a DNA test was conducted, a 99.99% match was found with the child. Investigators then confirmed that Morshed was the biological father of the child. He is currently in prison.

Harassing or humiliating someone who is innocent is a grave injustice — whether he is a religious leader or anyone else. On social media, people rush into media trials. Every human being has the right to dignity. In Bangladesh, so many incidents of sexual violence occur in mosques, madrasas, and religious schools that whenever such a case arises, people immediately suspect madrasa teachers, imams, or muezzins. To remove this suspicion, honest, innocent, and decent teachers, imams, and muezzins must come forward and expose the perpetrators of sexual violence; they must lead the protest and resistance. But instead, many try to hide the wrongdoing of their fellow religious men — believing that their religion instructs them to protect their “brothers.”

Hardline Islamist groups claim that atheists, freethinkers, and secular people engage in unrestricted sexual relations with parents, siblings, and relatives. They cannot provide any logic or evidence for this claim. No civilization or morally conscious society accepts such relationships. There is no factual basis that atheists or secular people behave this way. Yet in Bangladesh, many news reports show that some religious men have raped their own children or teenage daughters for days. Elderly men are not absent from this list either. Many women have publicly stated that their religious teachers assaulted them. This does not mean religious people are inherently immoral — those who commit such acts are personally deviant. Similarly, among atheists or secular people, a few individuals may also exist who behave wrongly. But none of these cases represent entire groups. Claiming “religious people do this” is as meaningless as claiming “atheists do this.” In Western societies, such incidents are also extremely rare and considered incest. Even relationships between cousins are frowned upon in most societies. Yet ignorant hardline Islamists make such accusations about atheists!

Modern science discourages marriage between cousins, and almost all civilized societies follow this rule. Marriages between close relatives significantly increase the risk of recessive genetic disorders in children. Studies show that congenital defects are twice as common in children born from cousin marriages. In many Middle Eastern countries, where cousin marriage rates are 30–50%, the prevalence of genetic diseases is alarming. Except for some Muslim communities, such marriages and sexual relationships are not widespread anywhere else — this is a fact. Just as a few incest cases in Bangladesh cannot be used to judge the entire country, a few such cases in Western societies cannot be used to generalize about them either.

The Egyptian Pharaohs — whom many refer to as “Firaun” — saw their bloodline collapse due to inbreeding. This has been proven through studies of their mummies. They practiced inbreeding to preserve the purity of their lineage, but the result was a high prevalence of genetic diseases. If you check the World Population Review data, you will see the inbreeding rate by country at this link. You will be surprised to see that the rate is only 0.1% in the United States, 1.5% in Canada, 7.5% in India, and 17% in Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia is at 39%, Iran 40%, Pakistan 61%, and Afghanistan 50%! In almost all conservative Muslim-majority countries, the rate is around 50% or higher. You often dismiss statistics and facts — but societies with lower inbreeding naturally have lower incest rates. This is simple logic, supported by research. The misinformation spread by hardline believers backfires when examined through factual analysis.

Organizations like Human Rights Watch have expressed concern that countries such as Pakistan and Iran have laws that treat children as adults, indirectly encouraging sexual violence. Pakistan ranks among the highest in the world for inbreeding. Another fact: according to Google Trends and major adult websites like Pornhub, Pakistan ranks at the top globally in searches for gay adult content.

Atheists, secular people, and freethinkers never promote incest or sexual relationships between close relatives such as cousins. Rather, they advocate that such acts should not occur. What they say is that two consenting adults — without fear or coercion — have the right to decide who they spend time with or have a relationship with. No one has the right to interfere in that. If two adults over 18 — even teachers or students in a Qawmi madrasa — engage in consensual relations without fear or coercion, it is not considered rape or a crime. But sexual acts involving children in madrasas are rape and a serious crime, because a child under 18 cannot legally give consent. This simple concept is difficult for many uninformed believers to understand.