IT’S not often that religious affairs get top billing. There seems to have been a surfeit of deity-based stories recently –whether it was the Islamic peace rally in St George’s Square or the Pope’s butler in the Vatican.

And despite the paucity of stories about religious affairs, they seem to provoke lots of interest when the general public hear them which makes you wonder why we don’t hear more of them.

I think part of the reason is the reactions they provoke.

Here at the Examiner we got lots of comments on our website on the anti Innocence of Muslims rally in the town. Mostly these were polite (if some a little bit spiky) and kept to the point.

Almost invariably there were a few people on both sides of the debate (ie what on earth was it about and why was it happening in Huddersfield?) who strayed into territory which we didn’t want to go into.

But it just illustrates that if you believe in something, you BELIEVE in something. And if you don’t believe, then you really DON’T BELIEVE.

And at that point there are two opposing points of view with no common ground inbetween.

Or so I thought.

But I seriously can’t believe that anyone in society regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, shoe size or musical taste would not be disgusted about the shooting of Malala Yousafzai.

If you’ve not heard of Malala then she’s a 14-year-old girl who lives in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.

Now much like the teenage girls we may know it appears Malala had her own ideas about how things should be done.

She was concerned about girls’ rights – not what time she could stay out until but minor things like being allowed to go to school.

She came to prominence in 2009 with a diary for the BBC about what life was like under Taliban militants who had seized control of her area. They were later repelled by Government forces.

Well, on Tuesday she was on a school bus with friends when armed gunmen stormed the bus and shot her and her friends. Malala was shot in the head.

Yes that’s right. Armed adults got on a school bus and started firing. Yes at children. Yes, you’ve read it right.

Why did they hunt Malala down? Because, according to a Taliban spokesman: “She was pro-west, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her ideal leader.”

I’m no expert on world religious affairs I think we can all agree. But when you start attacking school buses and shooting teenage girls who disagree with you, then I think whatever point you wished to make has been lost.

Even Pakistan’s normally reticent parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attack and the head of Pakistan’s military, General Ashfaq Kayani, made public his anger during a meeting with Malala’s parents at a military hospital.

As of yesterday lunchtime, which is when I’m writing this, Malala had the bullet removed from her head and doctors were hopeful of her recovery.

But sending a message once isn’t enough for the Taliban. You see, if this teenage girl survives then they will try to kill her again.

So here we have a group of fanatics who have a message they believe. They believe it so much they’re willing to kill and be killed for it.

They tried to kill a teenage girl because she disagreed with them and wasn’t scared of them. You can only conclude that they are scared of her which is why they want to silence her.

But, because of her age and her determination, her message will now be heard more loudly by an even greater audience. An audience that includes me and you – who hadn’t previously heard of her.

Sometimes the pen really is mightier than the sword.