Is Islamophobia rising in the UK?

[YesWeCan2026]

Is Islamophobia rising in the UK?

Interesting article: https://www.opendemocracy.net/what-the-rise-in-islamophobia-tells-us-about-modern-britain/

Your previous post was deleted because it dripped in anti-Jew racism. This one is shorter and in shouty capitals but the sense is the same. Say you're antisemitic without saying you're antisemitic. This post contains so many tropes that the anti-Jew hate drips from it even though you try and link your hatred to British children and pverty here.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Zionism is the belief that Jews should have a homeland in their ancestral homeland. You say 'Zionism' like it's a bad thing. It's not.

There was no genocide in Gaza. War is horrible and innocents die but with Israeli's firepower they could have wiped out the Gazan population in one day. Instead, they fed their enemy (while Hamas stole the aid and sold it on for profit), undertook a polio inoculation in Gaza for the children, and dropped leaflets/messages and warned people to vacate target bomb sites while they destroyed Hamas' weapon caches and terror tunnels (that our aid money paid for).

And I suggest you don't come back at me with what the UN says because the 22-member Arab Group and the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) love to club together to pass resolutions to criticise Israel. The numbers speak for themselves. Israel has been condemned by UN bodies more than Iran, China, and Russia combined. And if you believe it's because it's materially worse as a country than those I've just listed than you need to check your critical thinking skills and your prejudice.

The UN took 2 months to condemn the violence committed on 7 Oct though the perpetrators filmed and broadcast it themselves. Believe all women, apparently - unless they're Jews.

You're right that there has been a rise in Islamophobia in the UK. I think there's been a rise in racism overall. However, Jews are ten times more likely to experience a hate crime than Muslims, when adjusted for population size.

There are many people of all faiths, creeds and colours who contribute to the UK, just as you said in your deleted post. But the rise of Islamic extremism, the changing of demographics, the undermining of British values and the possible endangerment of women and girls in the UK are all issues that should be discussed and it isn't racist to do so.

It’s like you read half a Wikipedia page on the matter. There is no point quoting something from the 40’s- the church has dealt with defection in different ways over the years, most recently in 2013 (or thereabouts) where it removed a process that had been in place to formally defect! It’s actually extremely difficult to leave now.

I say this as an atheist who is still counted officially as a member of the church. A Catholic atheist… there are many of us.

@Gealach "It’s actually extremely difficult to leave now."

That's nonsense.

If you want to leave you just don't go. What do you think they will do? Come round to your house and drag you off to Mass?

Ridiculous.

That’s interesting. What is it that scares you about the one religion you find frightening?

But you advocate that the therapist disbelieve the client when they say their trauma is caused by being raised catholic and the life time of guilt and anxiety that followed?

Where on earth did I say that ?

@Doradormouse

So you claim you can understand someone else's subjective 'lived experience' ?
this sounded like you were questioning my ability to understand someone else's lived experience

they believe
As I said a subjective experience.
this sounded like you were saying that subjective experience cannot tell us anything about Catholicism and the harm it does to people

If they are spending 'hours telling you about it' maybe you should point them towards counselling/therapy?
no idea what you meant here but potentially you are saying that if they have been fucked up by Catholicism that's their problem and nothing to do with Catholicism.

but if I got that wrong, do enlighten me. As I said up thread you are being rather opaque.

So you claim you can understand someone else's subjective 'lived experience' ?
this sounded like you were questioning my ability to understand someone else's lived experience.
I was because I think it would be very difficult without counsellor-lived experience

you are saying that if they have been fucked up by Catholicism that's their problem and nothing to do with Catholicism.
I don't know how you arrived at that conclusion. The fact that you used the phrase "fucked up by Catholicism" tells me that for your own reasons you are angry at the idea of Catholicism. It is possible that you have unconscious bias.

Sorry but I have no idea what you mean here - what is counsellor lived experience? In case it's not clear from my previous posts the only way I know how much Catholicism fucks people up is from spending hours listening to people in my consulting room telling me as much and it's quite horrible to sit alongside. I have no personal experience of Catholicism but it is the main branch of Christianity that I hear about. I do know a little about the doctrines of Catholicism and I don't agree with them, but that's a conversation for a different thread and not related to the point I was making.

So you're a counsellor and you don't know what "counsellor lived experience is" ?
To describe some of your clients as "fucked-up" sounds rather unprofessional to me.
(I sincerely hope they don't recognise themselves from MN)

I have no personal experience of Catholicism
So you have no yardstick to judge their experiences against then?

I do know a little about the doctrines of Catholicism and I don't agree with them
Your personal opinions aren't relevant in your position. A counsellor should not give a client their opinions or advice.

no but they continue to count you as a member.

There are other categories of Christianity that make it much more difficult to leave, like these mega churches in the US, or Jehovah witnesses. My point is that there are various streams of thought within Islam also. Muslims aren’t some homogeneous group, it is composed of many different streams of thought and individuals and completely different cultures also.

My Muslim GP does not share a culture with some radical militant in Afghanistan in the same way that I do not share a culture with someone who believes in child marriage in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Texas.

For this reason, I will continue to take people as I find them and not just dismiss billions of people leaving across hundreds of countries as a danger.

@Gealach no but they continue to count you as a member.

Why should that bother you?

I was Baptised as an Anglican but I left that church years ago. No doubt my name is on a Baptismal Register somewhere but it doesn't affect me !

you can write and request that you leave, it’s different to Catholicism. Catholicism has also been associated with serious abuses and violence in a way than Anglicanism has not so there is more of a reason not to want to be considered a member.

of course that does not mean that every Catholic should be shunned or treated with suspicion. And therein lies my point.

Sadly the C of E also has some "skeletons in the cupboard".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e9xl7e37wo

https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/reviews-and-reports/independent-inquiry-child-sexual-abuse

So you don't believe counsellors should either have or express personal opinions outside of the consulting room 🤔 Interesting position, although highly indefensible and I would like to hear the rationale for this (but I expect your rationale will be I ought to know what you mean and that you are not obliged to define your terms or give any logic). You were the one that said people are not fucked up by Catholicism and that no one else can have access to the lived experience of another person unless they are a counsellor and yet you have provided no evidence or arguments in support of either of these positions and are now resorting to ad hominem attacks on me for no discernible reason. I cannot imagine what your relationships are like where you either don't discuss or aren't able to hear about another person's experiences. Don't you ever to talk to other people about their experiences? Your partner? Your friends? I can't imagine a life like that and I am really struggling to understand or follow your position.

So you don't believe counsellors should either have or express personal opinions outside of the consulting room

No, quite the opposite. You seem to have misunderstood.
I don't believe counsellors should either have or express personal opinions inside of the consulting room

You were the one that said people are not fucked up by Catholicism
Where did I say that?

that no one else can have access to the lived experience of another person unless they are a counsellor
I never said that either.

It was you who said you didn't know what "Counsellor lived experience" was and from what you have written it seems to me you still haven't grasped the meaning.

and are now resorting to ad hominem attacks on me for no discernible reason.
Where ?

I cannot imagine what your relationships are like where you either don't discuss or aren't able to hear about another person's experiences.
Where did that conclusion come from about my 'relationships'?

I can't imagine a life like that and I am really struggling to understand or follow your position.
Likewise.
IMO there's some pretty inaccurate and muddled thinking displayed in your post.
Hopefully you'll enlighten me.

Are you OK BTW ?

@Doradormouse you initially tried to gate-keep who was allowed to draw on other people's lived experiences (only counsellors) but then when you found out I was a counsellor you switched to say that I shouldn't have personal opinions as a counsellor and so I wasn't allowed to express a view drawn on clinical experience. So it seems clear that you are just trying to shut me down and moving the goalposts all the time, which is in bad faith. I am very happy to argue the actual points but I am not interested in engaging in bad faith, ad hominem on line debates. Most people do understand the harm the Catholic Church has caused to a great many people, largely due to the huge amount of literature and personal experience stories that are already out there, and due to the tireless work of Christopher Hitchens, so there isn't really any need to make the arguments again. I am leaving the thread now and getting on with my day. I can't stand gatekeepers, whether that's about people's right to have an opinion, express an opinion, have a conversation with God, receive forgiveness or get to heaven.

Counsellors are in a privileged position and should not abuse that. That was my point.

I notice you haven't responded to mine.

If you are a devotee of Christopher Hitchens then I suspect you lack the unbiased mindset to be in the counselling profession, unless of course you are able to leave it at the counselling room door.

Try reading this article and not be at least a bit concerned.

https://spectator.com/article/the-problems-with-the-faculty-of-education-go-beyond-jason-arday/?_gl=13b7hnn_upMQ.._gaMTU1NDUyOTkwLjE3ODY0NDEyNTA._ga_62MNNVRTT1czE3ODY0NDczMzMkbzIkZzEkdDE3ODY0NDgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw_ga_4HSLZY4B1YczE3ODY0NDczMzMkbzIkZzEkdDE3ODY0NDgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw_ga_DLZSDYRWEH*czE3ODY0NDczMzMkbzIkZzEkdDE3ODY0NDgzNzQkajYwJGwwJGgw#comments-container

I can’t read it what is your “fear”? You can just tell me in your own words. I’m not sure reading articles (even if I could see it) really helps when we can communicate directly? You’re scared of a particular religion. Why?