Anti-Muslim sentiment on the right

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Are there any Republicans/conservatives here who have a serious problem with this?

No, I'm not asking just to sound like a dick.  And yes, I acknowledge that it's mostly the Peter King wing of the GOP promoting this.  But, a lot of the right's coverage on this is fixated on the religious beliefs of Bowe and Robert Bergdahl.  Fox News turned the man from a POW to a jihadist using sources that they've even acknowledged are sketchy, but the very idea of the Bergdahls being Muslim seems to be enough for some to doubt the prisoner exchange.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Snowstalker is the only one I can think of, but he isn't on the right. Of course, their is the old Sanchez, but I grew out of that within six months of joining.

[Oakvale]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

I'm referring to the right in general, not the forum.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

There's always Green-Tide Pingvin. Also doesn't JCL still say "Mohammedan"?

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

Anti-Islamism is arguably more logical if it emanates from the Left. After all, why would liberals want to accommodate a regressive religion that has consistently opposed feminism, secularism, pluralism, socialism and social democracy throughout modern history?

I've said before that liberals frequently give Muslims free passes for the same things that native-born white Evangelical Christians say and do for no reason other than a rather pathetic desire to seem more cultured and worldly.

[Meursault]

I hate all three Abrahamic faiths, but Muslims and Jews cannot threaten me. Christians can.

[dead0man]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

Anti-Islamism is arguably more logical if it emanates from the Left. After all, why would liberals want to accommodate a regressive religion that has consistently opposed feminism, secularism, pluralism, socialism and social democracy throughout modern history?

When you figure that one out, send me an email summary would ya?  My gut says it has something to do with Paternalism.

[bedstuy]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

Anti-Islamism is arguably more logical if it emanates from the Left. After all, why would liberals want to accommodate a regressive religion that has consistently opposed feminism, secularism, pluralism, socialism and social democracy throughout modern history?

I've said before that liberals frequently give Muslims free passes for the same things that native-born white Evangelical Christians say and do for no reason other than a rather pathetic desire to seem more cultured and worldly.

I think a lot of people get in the trap of thinking about things in the extremes.  Liberals tend to argue, most Muslims don't believe in terrorism, don't support Al Qaeda and are peaceful.  That's 100% true.  The mistake then, is to cast the rest of Muslims as "moderate Muslims."  There is no moderate version of Islam, like there is for Judaism or Christianity. 

You won't find a masjid with reform Jewish or Episcopalian type openness and progressive interpretation of scripture.  Maybe there are a few Muslims like that, sure.  There are definitely Muslims who think music is permissible and women can be in public without a niqab, sure.  There isn't however a progressive, cosmopolitan version of Islam that supports feminism, religious pluralism and an acceptance for a modern way of life.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Speaking as someone who unfortunately had a weird Muslim-baiting phase, there are indeed "progressive, cosmopolitan" Muslims.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

Anti-Islamism is arguably more logical if it emanates from the Left. After all, why would liberals want to accommodate a regressive religion that has consistently opposed feminism, secularism, pluralism, socialism and social democracy throughout modern history?

I've said before that liberals frequently give Muslims free passes for the same things that native-born white Evangelical Christians say and do for no reason other than a rather pathetic desire to seem more cultured and worldly.

I think a lot of people get in the trap of thinking about things in the extremes.  Liberals tend to argue, most Muslims don't believe in terrorism, don't support Al Qaeda and are peaceful.  That's 100% true.  The mistake then, is to cast the rest of Muslims as "moderate Muslims."  There is no moderate version of Islam, like there is for Judaism or Christianity. 

You won't find a masjid with reform Jewish or Episcopalian type openness and progressive interpretation of scripture.  Maybe there are a few Muslims like that, sure.  There are definitely Muslims who think music is permissible and women can be in public without a niqab, sure.  There isn't however a progressive, cosmopolitan version of Islam that supports feminism, religious pluralism and an acceptance for a modern way of life.

Your second paragraph here seems to contradict the first.  How can you say with certainty that such a branch of Islam does not exist?  You appear to be committing the same fallacy you acknowledge is a fallacy, and frankly I find it hard to believe that someone in who lives in New York City would not encounter any Muslims who preach and practice those virtues you mentioned.

[bedstuy]

On the right? Take a look around the decidedly "liberal" Atlas forum at some point. People hate Islam here.

Anti-Islamism is arguably more logical if it emanates from the Left. After all, why would liberals want to accommodate a regressive religion that has consistently opposed feminism, secularism, pluralism, socialism and social democracy throughout modern history?

I've said before that liberals frequently give Muslims free passes for the same things that native-born white Evangelical Christians say and do for no reason other than a rather pathetic desire to seem more cultured and worldly.

I think a lot of people get in the trap of thinking about things in the extremes.  Liberals tend to argue, most Muslims don't believe in terrorism, don't support Al Qaeda and are peaceful.  That's 100% true.  The mistake then, is to cast the rest of Muslims as "moderate Muslims."  There is no moderate version of Islam, like there is for Judaism or Christianity. 

You won't find a masjid with reform Jewish or Episcopalian type openness and progressive interpretation of scripture.  Maybe there are a few Muslims like that, sure.  There are definitely Muslims who think music is permissible and women can be in public without a niqab, sure.  There isn't however a progressive, cosmopolitan version of Islam that supports feminism, religious pluralism and an acceptance for a modern way of life.

Your second paragraph here seems to contradict the first.  How can you say with certainty that such a branch of Islam does not exist?  You appear to be committing the same fallacy you acknowledge is a fallacy, and frankly I find it hard to believe that someone in who lives in New York City would not encounter any Muslims who preach and practice those virtues you mentioned.

That's not what I said at all.  There are Muslims that are perfectly normal nice people.  There are Hasidic Jews who are perfectly nice people.  There are Scientologists who seem very nice.  There are Muslims who are gay and drink alcohol.  There are not, to my knowledge, masjids where they preach acceptance of homosexuality, feminism and scriptural liberalism.  I've never heard of that.  Maybe those places exist.  But, the percent of Islam that is conservative and insular is not comparable to Christianity or Judaism.

And, in NYC, I've met a lot of great Muslim people.  But, you also see plenty of women wearing a niqab and the leader of our local Masjid was an unindicted co-conspirator in the bombing of the World Trade Center.  You can't judge people based on their religious beliefs.  But, you can't necessarily judge religious beliefs to be good, if you find examples of good people who follow that religion.

Ultimately, religion is one of those things that's fine if you don't go too extreme with it or involve it with every part of your life.  Islam tends to be practiced as a belief system for every part of your life and with unalterable rules for every part of life.  Islam basically tells people to adopt the habits of Arab people from Mohammed's time.  If you practiced Judaism or Christianity that way, it would be equally harmful. 

[TNF]

Anti-Islam sentiment is totally and completely logical if you live in an area in which Islam is the majority religion and the daily affairs of society are strongly influenced by it. If that's not the case, (and it isn't, more often than not, given the demographics of our forum and the Internet at-large), anti-Islam sentiment is paranoid bigotry, or racism dressed up with pseudo-intellectual trappings.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There are Muslims who, for instance, interpret the ban on alcohol as meaning 'a few drinks are fine so long as I don't get drunk'.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Do any of you people know any Muslims?

[All Along The Watchtower]

even if the two are arguing for similar ideas

No.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

what

[politicus]

Anti-Islam sentiment is totally and completely logical if you live in an area in which Islam is the majority religion and the daily affairs of society are strongly influenced by it. If that's not the case, (and it isn't, more often than not, given the demographics of our forum and the Internet at-large), anti-Islam sentiment is paranoid bigotry, or racism dressed up with pseudo-intellectual trappings.

It could also be if particular parts of your town are dominated by Muslims and you dislike their behaviour there (ie. if you have friends or relatives living there) or from bad experiences from meeting men from majority Muslim background in the public sphere like beaches, discoteques, bars, parks, sports arenas etc..

Disliking "Islam" often has more to do with the macho culture and intolerance that many Muslims (whether cultural Muslims or religious) display than the actual religion.

When people say they dislike "Islam" they generally mean they dislike Muslim men. The number of Westerners disliking Muslim women is very small.

Still, on some level there is a connection between Islam as a religion and the sort of aggressive, dominant and intolerant behaviour exhibited by a large share of its followers.

[Lurker]

There are Muslims who, for instance, interpret the ban on alcohol as meaning 'a few drinks are fine so long as I don't get drunk'.

There are plenty of Muslims (particularly men) who do get drunk as well. Has anybody ever implied otherwise though?

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

One important distinction between fundamentalist Christianity and fundamentalist Islam is that even if the two are arguing for similar ideas, the Muslim will always talk about how God's will is Supreme, etc.  and the Christian will talk about "our freedom and our way of life."  The concept of freedom is just about foreign to most Muslim countries, and as such, Muslims advocate oppressive doctrine in a very dogmatic style that alienates the US conservatives.

For instance, with regard to modesty of clothing, a Muslim would probably say "God wills it!" while a Christian would probably talk about "self-respect and humility."    Differences like that help explain the sentiment.

...

You don't seriously think it's as simple as that, do you?

[GaussLaw]

One important distinction between fundamentalist Christianity and fundamentalist Islam is that even if the two are arguing for similar ideas, the Muslim will always talk about how God's will is Supreme, etc.  and the Christian will talk about "our freedom and our way of life."  The concept of freedom is just about foreign to most Muslim countries, and as such, Muslims advocate oppressive doctrine in a very dogmatic style that alienates the US conservatives.

For instance, with regard to modesty of clothing, a Muslim would probably say "God wills it!" while a Christian would probably talk about "self-respect and humility."    Differences like that help explain the sentiment.

...

You don't seriously think it's as simple as that, do you?

No, and I realize in hindsight that post wasn't quite what I thought it was.

There is a grain of truth to what I wrote, but I know that there is a lot of overlap in language and many other factors involved.

I apologize about that.

But what is true that the language of someone like Mark Harris or Mike Huckabee versus Islamic politicians in the Middle East does fall somewhat along the lines I described.  I wasn't specific enough

[Хahar 🤔]

Fun thread, this one.

[IceSpear]

There's a pretty big difference between Islam as a religion and Islam as a political ideology. The former is fine (though I'm not a fan of any religions in general), and the latter is deplorable.

[ElectionsGuy]

I'm seriously getting sick of this as well. They think Islam = terrorist! Most of the Muslims here in America are good/decent people. But I will say fundamentalist Islam is much worse than fundamentalist Christianity when it comes to violence and utter authoritarianism. I completely agree with what TNF and some others have said.

[Goldwater]

There's a pretty big difference between Islam as a religion and Islam as a political ideology. The former is fine (though I'm not a fan of any religions in general), and the latter is deplorable.

^^^^^

This. I have no problem Islam the religion, but I despise Islamism for reasons that should be obvious to any decent person.