The disappearance of flight MH370 has captured the attention of the entire world. Though not entirely without precedent, the circumstances surrounding it's disappearance are compelling a multitude of theories from both reputable and disreputable sources alike in a common effort to better understand the motivation behind the event.
One of the many problems with that is that extrapolating theories from such little evidence carries with it the ancillary danger of it being wildly incorrect, especially in an era saturated by the media-manufactured paranoia surrounding terrorism. Such is the case with the reporting by news outlets throughout the world that the pilot of that flight, Captain Zaharie Shah, is or was a devout muslim.
Now on the surface, this assertion inspires at least a moderate level of plausibility based simply upon the geographic location of Captain Shah's residence. Since the majority of people living in Malaysia happen to be devout muslims, it isn't a stretch to assume that he is as well. It has also been stated that he attended weekly religious service, and some of his friends described him as a "faithful" person. It is therefore curious that there could be compelling evidence to the contrary of that superficial observation that is not being shared among the many stories being written analyzing the background of both individuals who were in the cockpit of that plane.
Allow me to explain.
I am a youtuber. Though I can more accurately be described as a "youtube atheist" who makes regular video content that provides commentary on global issues directly related to atheism, anti-theism, and secularism. My channel name on youtube is meridianfrost.
https://www.youtube.com/user/meridianfrost
You may ask what any of this has to do with flight MH370, and not without reason. The relevant portion, is that Captain Zaharie Shah was also a youtuber. He made do-it-yourself videos that were technical in nature, and regularly engaged the community when other users posted comments in response to his video productions.
On every youtube channel page, there is an option to share your youtube activity so other people can visit your channel to watch related videos, see which videos you have liked and other youtube channels you subscribe to, send private messages to you, and generally engage in discussion specifically related to their particular interests. The compelling evidence I have found is that Captain Zaharie Shah recently subscribed to my video feed, and liked one of my videos regarding the Pope and the Catholic church. It does not stop there. If you look at his channel page
http://www.youtube.com/user/catalinapby1
You will see a subscription and "like" history of the videos of very high profile personalities within the global anti-theist community. For instance, he recently subscribed to Richard Dawkins (his latest youtube activity) who is considered by many to be the most prominent atheist on the planet. He is also subscribed to Tim Minchin, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Silverman, TED, and others. It is quite clear from this evidence that Captain Shah was at the very least a skeptic regarding religion, and at most an anti-theist atheist. It does not mean that he was anti-religious, as he could have indeed still held to a core Islamic belief, but it does show that the likelihood of him being devoutly religious is slim to none.
The co-pilot of the plane however, was a devout muslim, as evidenced by the testimony given by his family, friends, and officials at the mosque he attended for prayer.
So, dear reader, I invite you to extrapolate the possible implications from that actual evidence, a scenario that is more plausible than "Pilot Suicide"
Malaysia is known for its particularly barbaric treatment of atheists. "Atheism" is in fact a criminal "offense" in Malaysia that is punishable by death. Considering that the lion's share of Zaharie Shah's youtube activity that was directly related to atheism occurred within the last month, coupled with the culturally collective hatred of atheists that is rampant in Malaysia, wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that the co-pilot is the likely suspect in an "intervention" scenerio? Muslim extremists (and every other demographic of organized religion for that matter) are significantly more violent than atheists because religious people reason and justify their violent actions with scripture. Zaharie Shah, it appears, was not a member of that extremist demographic.
Could the co-pilot have discovered Captain Shah's atheism, resulting in an argument and physical confrontation in the cockpit? Or is it more likely that the pilot, dejected and enraged over the wrongful imprisonment of a political figure he supported, decide to become a mass-murderer in protest of the Malaysian government? You can decide which appears to be a more likely cause of the event. That is again not to say that it is likely that either of the two scenarios even took place to cause this flight to go missing. When looking at hypothetical situations, we must still use competent faculties of reason when examining the evidence.
I hope we soon discover the truth. For now however, perhaps we should at least attempt to include reliable evidence when considering the possibilities.
Update: Here is an example of a great article written by a pilot that bypasses all the possible scenerios related to some type of intervention
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/
