Is It racist to say you hate ISLAM?

Who’s Ricky gervais

Not at all. Though bashing the religion of a minority group in the UK which already gets more than its fair share of death threats and hate is a little insensitive. Christianity is probably the only religion in the UK which it is perfectly acceptable to give a good whalloping, since it is the majority religion in the country and the only one that has had a profound effect on our culture.

Probably because the people making jokes of Christianity are those who do not follow it and majority of people referring their selves or their ancestors from Christian religion hardly follow it hence they now see it as a joke.

no no, it's not racist. that's why we use the word Islamophobia to describe the dislike and/or prejudice towards Islam.

Ricky Gervais knows his audience - that's why he can make those jokes and get away with it. if he said it in a room full of devote catholics or evangelicals, he would have no one laughing. but that's not his audience - his fans go to him expecting him to be controversial and/or offensive.

btw i'm christian and i was made fun of for being a christian for the first 13 years of my life. didn't really bother me that much and it doesn't bother me now. but i admit i have thick skin and i really don't care what people think of me. also i know my heart and my relationship with God and your opinion on it doesn't change anything.

It depends. It's okay to disagree with/hate a religion as in the religious ideology but it's not okay to say that you hate all of the members of that religion or to hate the race associated with that religion (most people associate Muslims with middle eastern people although not all middle eastern people are musljms). I think it's wrong to make fun of Islam purely because of the current political climate. There is a lot of hatred nowadays for Muslims due to terrorism. Although the comedian may not hate Muslims (and may just be poking fun in a harmless way), people who are far right or hate Muslims will latch onto this and it will encourage further hatred towards Muslims. It's all about context. Nowadays Christians don't experience a lot of discrimination so it's okay to make fun of them in a playful way as long as it doesn't accidentlu or deliberately incite hatred towards them. It's also often a different dynamic. Gervais is white and likely grew up either as a christian or surrounded by Christians so in a way it's like he s making fun of himself (even though he's not Christian). It's like black people can make fun of black people, (former) Christians can make fun of Christians and Muslims can make fun of Muslims.
Sorry that my comment is so long but this is how i see the issue. in a black and white sense it should be okay to make fun of Islam but in the current political climate I think it would be ill advised to do so.

I was partly with you until you get to the last part, you should be able to criticise anything you want regardless of what political climate, people have been executed right from history because they criticise Islam primarily in the Middle East so the clause you inserted ‘political climate’ is ridiculous, quite simply close to Pinochet’s mentality.
i agree that society must give minority groups some protection because it’s beyond cruel to see Muslim women attacked on the street, was just in the news yesterday as it’s shocking.
overall tho, the protection given to Muslims here must all be replicated in Middle East to protect non Muslims

Yes you can criticise what you want, I am not saying that people shouldn't have no right to do that, all I am saying is that I would not advise it, in other words it is ill advised. I dislike Islam as I dislike all religions and I have no reservations about saying that. However someone who is speaking on a large stage could say that they hate Islam and the far left would brand them as a racist and the far right would see them as one of them when in fact the person speaking is neither. The far right will see this as validation for their more extreme views and these views will become more acceptable. In short what I'm saying is that if someone is going to criticise Islam they should make it clear that they do not hate Muslims and that many other religions (such as Christianity) are in many ways just as bad. In essence, it's okay to criticise Islam in the right way and the right context. If I were a comedian I would avoid jokes about Islam as, as I have said, these can be wrongly interpreted and can incite more hatred, not to mention they are entirely unnecessary.

Not at all. Islam is an ideology, not a race, ergo hating it isn't racist. It's perfectly fine to dislike ideologies, just as there's nothing wrong with despising Nazism, fascism, socialism etc..

I see what you mean there, quite sensible to offer minority groups some protection however in Muslim majority countries like Saudi you’ll be in trouble for walloping Islam however Islam is the majority there not minority, what’s your take on that using your own moral compass?

Indeed, in many Muslim majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan you’d struggle to give Islam the bashing it deserves without getting killed or imprisoned. Of course it is not at all immoral to bash Islam in majority Muslim countries, it is just the reality of the world at present. Such countries have not secularised enough yet.

There was a time in Britain when people were tortured for owning a Bible in English. Thankfully, we are well beyond that now. Hopefully one day we’ll see majority Muslim countries make a similar change for the better.