The word “Islamophobia” was created to silence any who dare to critique the insane Islamic belief system in any way. Its target is not just non-Muslims, who quite rightly raise objections to actions motivated by belief-driven delusions, but is also aimed at silencing Muslims who dare to raise questions about their supposed holy text, the Quran, or even suggest that gender inequality is wrong.

So where did this word come from? The first usage appears to date back to its deployment by Iranian clerics whose motivation was to ensure that the Islamic foundation for the new republic was beyond criticism , both internally, and also to label any external critics as somehow “xenophobia”, but in recent times it has become a very popular term that has been utilized to describe anybody who is in any way critical of any aspect of Islamic belief.

We all understand terms such as “xenophobia”, its defined as hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture, but can the same be said for this term. In fact does anybody really understand what this recently make-up term really means. Some, such as the Runnymede Trust, do attempt to define it, as, “dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims”, but that is not how it is being used. Instead we find it deployed in an attempt to suppress any form of criticism, and this is quite frankly insane.

The implied association with xenophobia does not work, and that’s because Islam is not a race, Muslims come from all over the world, you find not only Arab’s, but also Africans, Asians and Europeans adhere to this belief system, so clearly any claim that Islamic criticism is racist is not credible.

In our society it is quite appropriate to criticise, or even mock silly ideas, and in many ways that’s what politics is all about. If I stand upon a soap box in Hyde Park corner and proceed to give a speech in which I severely criticise a specific political party, should I then be labelled with terms such as ‘liberalophobia’, ‘conservophobia’ or ‘labourophobia’? We simply don’t think like that, such an approach would be bizarre, and so criticism of other ideas and policies is quite acceptable, so on what basis can Islam claim a special exception to this norm?

What we appear to have here is an accusation of Blasphemy in disguise, because that’s how this word is actually being deployed. That concept has no real meaning because in the eyes of every belief system, every other form of belief (or non-belief) is Blasphemy.

Because we live in an open society, there are core ideas that must be respected by all if it is to work, specifically

Freedom of thought – You can believe whatever you like

Freedom of speech – You are free to not only proclaim your beliefs, but you may also freely criticise other beliefs

What you may not do is to attempt to impose your beliefs on others and demand that they pay homage and adhere to them in any way.

There are many who reject Islam’s aggressive proselytism and claim to total truth. To respond by accusing any such valid criticism as a thought crime moves the debate out of the intellectual arena and into the legal arena. There is no legal or moral justification for criticism of one specific belief system to become a legal thought crime, yet tragically some in the media, and also some politicians, appear to be endorsing this.

If we are to have a future for all, then we must never prevent critical minds from putting insanely silly beliefs in the spotlight, doing so is more akin to living under an old Soviet regiem and is utterly incompatable with our open society.

When Islamic apologists or defenders cry “Islamophobia” … be skeptical, because most times its the totally meaningless concept of ‘Blasphemy’ in disguise, and has nothing to do with the implied bigotry or racism at all.

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