Aya was a middle school student living in Tunisia. One day, this 13-year-old girl walked home with a boy from school. Not long after, she was fighting for her life after receiving fourth-degree burns all over her body, allegedly at the hands of her own father. Nine days later, she died from her injuries, and her father was arrested. This so-called "honor killing" has played out time and again around the world, most often as a result of religious convictions related to female autonomy.

Is religion the cause of such atrocities?

Some people make the argument that it's not right to blame religion for these kinds of murders; that Islam, in particular, doesn't condone this kind of behavior.

Similarly, We have also been accused of unfairly targeting Muslims and even of being racist, as seen in this comment from Muneeba Sheikh: "Why did you even mention Muslim Father. well, I could highlight so many incidents happening in non Muslim countries. so, people stop criticizing Muslims. It doesn't even make any sense."

But wouldn't it be safe to say that the beliefs held by many religious people lead to certain convictions that would cause a person to commit such a horrible act? And in this case, couldn't beliefs about women, sexuality, and autonomy lead to honor killings?

As Noor O'caside pointed out, Islam might not command fathers to kill their daughters for walking home with a boy, but when women are seen as property, crimes of "honor" will occur. Muslims aren't supposed to kill the innocent, but this is very easily worked around when women aren't seen as innocent.

Others, like Mukul Mehra argue that people like this are just sick and that we shouldn't focus on religion: "its a by product of sick mentality not religion, you make your own decisions its not the religion who forces you to do, its upto you and your conscious that what is right and what is wrong is a simple application of common sense and patience"

Maybe these types of people would commit heinous acts of murder anyway. Perhaps, without religion, they would simply find another excuse.

What do you think? Is religion to blame? Should religion be held accountable when crimes like this are committed? Reply to this email with your thoughts and we might add them to our website. Please let us know if you wish to remain anonymous.