Can someone explain Islamophobia to me?

[BaMamma]

I don't think I have an irrational fear of Muslims, but I think I have a reasonable concern about radical Islam, does that make me Islamophobic?

Lots of supposed “Christians” do not unfortunately follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. My in laws, apparently “very Christian”, always at church or bible study classes etc… but actually racist, homophobic, and zero empathy for the poor and homeless.
Interestingly, I would describe their church as similar to what you would expect in Bible Belt America.

I’ll quote myself,

”Lots of people object to religious fanaticism, of all kinds.”

Frightening, isn’t it?

That's true of all religions not following the peaceful teachings of their faith.

I'm sure some Muslims can be racist, homophobic too with zero empathy for the poor and homeless.

Religion doesn't make someone a good person (any religion).

Yes and depressing. There is a very particular brand of supposed Christianity which seems to encourage behaviours that are nothing to do with following Jesus Christ, what is being preached in these Churches? We don’t need that spreading here.

150,000 attended the Tommy Robinson march in London. That’s quite “a few”.

The nature of a religion is what its followers become.

UK population about 70 million people.

Hope you aren't suggesting that all of Tommy's followers are Christians @JadeHare

I doubt there are many Christians in the true sense on Tommy’s marches. Yet they are happy to hide under the umbrella of Christianity to hide their anti-muslim, anti-immigration rhetoric. Shocker!

exactly - not many true Christians on Tommy's marches.

So of course they just aren't espousing good old Christian values.

But it’s OK to recite the Lord’s prayer and carry crosses on these marches? And say that they are protecting Christianity? Even though they aren’t really Christians? OK then.

I didn't say that. It's not ok but they do it anyway. They aren't representative of Britain or even British Christians. So why use them as an example to say, Not the kind of Britain I could be proud of.

Those reciting the Lord’s prayer and carrying crosses on TR marches are a small minority of people with extreme views and nothing to do with @mids2019 or the Muslim woman who started off this whole debate about how British values include tolerance to those with different religious beliefs.

The point is religous tolerance does not mean the introduction of blasphemy law through the front of being Islamaphobic. Any religion should be open to scrutiny in a free society and we have the right to state belief or non belief in any religion. Mohammed is not a messenger of God should be treated similarly to Christ is not the son of God if that is your view. We have the right to say such things.

I can why some Muslims would be unhappy with a society that allows criticisms or denial of their prophet but that is a great aspect of our free society. If someone questions your religion you should have the intellectual capacity to defend your belief and not have to recourse to law to defend you from offence. This is not advocating hate speech but a defence of the freedom of speech, one which many take for granted.

The treatment of the likes of Salman Rushdie show the dangers of open critical analysis of Islam and it may be fear that stops many from being more openly robust in holding the Islamic faith to scrutiny. (A similar argument can be made of course for Christianity).

Some (not all) Muslims are unhappy with many aspects of British society as in its present liberal form of is difficult to maintain the rigours of Islamic practice. An Imam once described the UK as 'decadent' to me and bemoaned the fact men were continually exposed to women with western garb which in his view was ungodly tempatation. Those who are ardent in their Islamic faith will wish a society that reflected their values, practises and beliefs and it is naieve to suggest otherwise as this is human nature. It is culture clash that has many worried.

Democratic Support: A nationally representative survey by the Concordia Forum found that (85%) of British Muslims support democracy as the best system of government (compared to (71%) of the general public

From that same article:

Cohesion cannot be built by focusing only on fear or division. It is built by strengthening belonging, encouraging interaction between communities, and recognising the millions of people who are already contributing positively to British society every day."

The article is interesting @JadeHare but the sample size is only 504 UK Muslims which raises questions as to whether it is a large enough study to be truly representative, though they claim it is.

There was a survey twice the size of Muslim attitudes in 2015 - a poll by BBC Radio 4. As they say, One thousand Muslims were polled as part of our survey - a number statistically representative of the population of close to three million Muslims in Britain.

This is a summary of their findings:

BBC Radio 4 Today Muslim Poll

More than two in five (46%) feel that being a Muslim in Britain is difficult due to prejudice against Islam.
Almost all Muslims living in Britain feel a loyalty to the country (95%). Just 6% say they feel a disloyalty.
Nine in ten (93%) British Muslims believe that Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws.
One in four (27%) British Muslims say they have some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
However, two thirds (68%) say acts of violence against those who publish images of the Prophet can never be justified while a quarter (24%) disagree.
Muslim women are more likely than men to feel unsafe in Britain.
One in nine (11%) British Muslims feel sympathetic towards people who want to fight against western interests while 85% do not.
Half (49%) believe Muslim clerics preaching that violence against the west can be justified are out of touch with mainstream Muslim opinion, while 45% disagree.

www.comres.co.uk/polls/bbc-radio-4-today-muslim-poll/

Thats over 11years ago Twigs. Is it relevant?

I would think anyone entering a survey like that would be subject to selection bias and it is unlikely Muslims are not going to fill out a form necessarily negatively. Everyone obeys other law but the question is would Muslims in an ideal world want laws changed? There is generally a positive feeling towards democracy but I do wonder which parties would be supported by the Muslim community......many seem to go for parties with an obvious anti Israel slant for example.

It would be interesting to see answers to questions like ....do you like the culture of the UK?.....do you believe in mixed faith marriage?.....are you open to female leadership?......would you support a blasphemy law?......do you want local councils to have more power to limit alcohol sales?.....do you support mixed faith or secular education?.......do you wish to see Israelis who had ever performed national service banned from the UK?

These questions tend not to be on surveys.

A quarter of Muslims surveyed were quite happy to agree violence against cart satirical cartoonists is quite OK. No wonder comedians can take a swipe at Christianity but not Islam. It is a blasphemy law by fear.

Agree a sample would be better if it was more up to date as well as a bigger sample size. If anyone can find one, I would be interested.

Theres is a episode of Cunk on Earth where she speaks cunky on all most religions (actually funny) and when the turn comes to speak on Islam, the script gets blown away and the screen reads ‘this content is not available in your territory’ 😅

The actress presumably didn’t fancy a fatwa against her over a joke!

Shame that anti-semitism has spread here though. Those people who happily chant things against Jews are teachers and medics. Now that is an anomaly but let's just concentrate on the hypocrisy of Christianity.

Chant things against Jews? What things are these doctors and teachers saying about Jewish people? Any examples? Or do you mean chant things about the Israeli government? For the millionth time no Government in the world is above criticism.