10 reasons to stand up to Islamophobia

Criticism of Islam is perfectly acceptable and necessary. Anti-Muslim bigotry is not.

wtf, i didn't even know you could get more then 10 gems

wtf, i didn't even know you could get more then 10 gems

Criticism of Islam is perfectly acceptable and necessary. Anti-Muslim bigotry is not.

wtf, i didn't even know you could get more then 10 gems

wtf I didn't know getting people to give up their faith was an acceptable thing to do. Nor did I think it's something we did in this society. The great thing about the UK (and similar countries) is that at its best, it's welcoming of all peoples from all cultures and traditions.

Thanks OP. When can we expect a thread with the title "10 reasons to stand up to terrorism"?

Criticism of Islam is perfectly acceptable and necessary. Anti-Muslim bigotry is not.

I think you're quoting the wrong person, but in any case Christians and Muslims would like a word with you.

Yeah I've screwed up massively

This is why I should stick to maths! (To answer your point, I don't have a problem with people trying to convert others to anothe faith, my issue is with people who tend to respond to any news with "omgz the Muslims are so backwards why are they so stupid can't they see their religion is useless?"

If you also include Christians, haven't you basically called about 40% ignorant?

1) Discrimination against Muslims in Britain is going from bad to worse. Unemployment among Muslims in Britain is 17%, against a national average of 8%, higher than for people of any other religion. The unemployment rate for Muslim women at 18% is four times the rate for Christian women. 80 per cent of British Muslims have experienced discrimination, up from 45 per cent in the late 1990s.

2) This discrimination is associated with extreme levels of poverty. Over 40% of British Muslims of Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic origin live in poverty, compared to 14% of white people. Around 45% of ethnically-South Asian Muslim children in Britain are impoverished.This discrimination is associated with extreme levels of poverty. Over 40% of British Muslims of Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic origin live in poverty, compared to 14% of white people. Around 45% of ethnically-South Asian Muslim children in Britain are impoverished.

3) Official discrimination and media stereotyping have helped drive a sharp increase in hate crime against Muslims. The rise has accelerated in the last few years. Academic research shows that “assailants of Muslims are invariably motivated by a negative view of Muslims they have acquired from either mainstream or extremist nationalist reports or commentaries in the media”.

4) Approximately 60% of the prison population in France are Muslims. Despite its claims to secularism, hundreds of Catholic churches in France are funded by the state. Hundreds of Catholic and many Jewish private schools also receive state funding. When Muslim organisations have asked for similar arrangements, they have been refused.

5) The rise in hate crime is closely linked to the 'war on terror' and the associated rhetoric. Research shows “the major motivating factor for violence against Muslims is a negative and false belief that Muslims pose a security or terrorist threat.”

6) In the last 25 years Britain and other Western powers have conducted invasions and major military interventions against a series of Muslim countries from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Mali and Syria. The destruction has been immense. One recent study estimates that in Iraq alone from 1991 to 2007, the total civilian death toll “as a direct and indirect consequence of Anglo-American invasions, socio-economic deprivation, infrastructure destruction, and occupation amounts to approximately 3 million.”

7) The war is coming home. Some of the methods of surveillance and infiltration used in foreign wars are being applied to domestic Muslim communities. As well as direct surveillance and harassment by the security services, schools, colleges, youth and community services in Britain are expected to gather intelligence about the young people they work with. Youth workers are pressured to provide information about things like religious literalism or anger at British foreign policy. As of 2010, 290 children under 16 had been reported to the police and their lives investigated by police counter-terrorist units.

8) In the UK, more than a thousand Muslims have been detained without charge under anti-terror laws, out of which only a handful have been convicted of terrorist offences. At the peak of the 'extraordinary rendition' programme, more than 100,000 Muslim men worldwide were being detained without charges, “in secretive American-run jails and interrogation centres similar to the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison”, under conditions which violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions on the Treatment of Prisoners, and UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

9) In Britain stop and searches under anti terrorism legislation leapt more than twenty times from a total of 10,200 in 2001/2 to 210,000 in 2008/9. This harassment did not produce a single conviction in eight years.

10) Anti-Muslim racism

A lot of society is pretty ignorant to be honest.
But, I was getting at the point that both of these religions (not only these 2, but mostly) are only as popular as they are today because they converted everyone around them. I find it extremely hypocritical when on threads relating to Islam everyone goes on about tolerance, when the only reason it's as popular as it is today is because of them converting them one way or another.

http://www.counterfire.org/articles/analysis/17717-ten-reasons-to-stand-up-to-islamophobia-and-the-war-on-terror

to counter riots (by 1000s of native Germans) like this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cologne-attacks-police-use-water-cannon-and-pepper-spray-on-anti-immigration-pegida-protesters-a6803996.html

I'm confused. You think that no one has a right to ask for tolerance because in the past religions converted people?