The mass-murder in Oslo last Friday was tragic. At least 90 innocents -- many of them youth -- are already dead, and authorities fear that the death toll may continue rising.
Evidence is mounting that a right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, carried out the attack at least in part to spark a "civil war"against Muslim migrants to Europe and the left-wing governments that, in his view, willfully enable their immigration. In his mind, the attack was a defense against immigrants who hold different values -- and the start of a much bigger fight for Christianity against Islam.
In a 1,500-page manifesto, Breivik reportedly claimed, "
Mr. Breivik was also believed to have posted a video on Friday, calling for Christian conservatives in Europe to rise up violently as a modern-day version of the Crusades-era Knights Templar to save Europe from Islamic totalitarianism. In its closing moments, the video depicts Mr. Breivik in military uniform, holding assault weapons.
If ever a dark, twisted irony existed, this may be one: Breivik claims to be saving Europe from Muslims (whom he denotes as violent and autocratic) by violently attacking an event convened by a democratically elected government. He struck at Norway's government in the name of protecting the country it serves. Islamophobia, it would seem, blinded Breivik to the horrors and contradictions of his own deeds.
While I pray that those in mourning from the loss of loved ones are granted peace and that the entire country of Norway is blessed with solace in its grief, I believe that there is much Americans can and must learn from Breivik's attack, as well.
The first is that Islamophobia is not merely confined to a war of words against Muslims. Islamophobic words, of which Breivik shared many in his 1,500-page document, often spiral into deeds.
We have already observed this within the United States, though thankfully in largely non-violent ways. (Hate crimes against Muslims stand as an egregious exception to this rule.) As we saw in protests against a Muslim community organization in California this March and attempts to block the creation of New York's Park51 community center last summer, among others, Muslim communities have been repeatedly impeded from engaging in their ordinary communal functions. Protests against Muslim communal organizations and gathering places have become the physical manifestations of Islamophobic disdain and even hatred.
The second is that an Islamophobia of words and limited actions has the potential to turn violent. The Manichean notion that Christians (or Jews or Hindus or Atheists) are good while Muslims are intrinsically bad is volatile and can spiral from misapprehension to misinformation to misdeed to truly terrifying acts of violence. Words count and must not be ignored. Islamophobia, we now know from Oslo, can itself be a starting point for unthinkable brutality.
When we read of American Islamophobes, we must no longer deny the potential they have to undermine the societal values that we hold dear. Religious freedom is jeopardized when Muslims are singled out. But Islamophobes may come to threaten more than religious freedom -- perhaps even our very security.
My prayers right now are with the people of Norway. Yet my thoughts are with my own country and the potential for the Islamophobia we are coming to know too well in words to manifest itself in senseless acts of violence like those we saw last week in Oslo.
Follow Joshua Stanton on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dialogueeditor
Norway attack: Likely suspected groups - Huffington Post
Oslo Norway Bombing: Suspect Anders Behring ... - Huffington Post
Norway, Islam and the threat of the West - Opinion - Al Jazeera ...
To get more information go to : http://antiwarassembly.org/
In other news, I do wonder if more 'right-wing' groups are going to start questioning their rhetoric and members now.
The west is worried Islam is coming, but they fail to realize its west which is coming to Islam. Islamophobia created by west is backfiring them only. Majority of reverts are from America and European countries this making it fastest growing religion in west.
With due respect to all religions, Islam don't want to force faith or ideology on anyone. People living in foreign lands must realize they must respect the law of the land And if they have any concern they should address it in a democratic process as per the law defined.
Instead of relying much on media why one open English translation of Quran and find out what it says.Wish you all peace.
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That's the problem. We were puzzled by statements after 9/11 and opened the Koran and read some Sharia law.
Some decided that Islam was just the thing they needed. Millions of us disagreed.
Try reading Sharia law from the viewpoint of a non Muslim. I guarantee you will understand what is happening much better.
Can you kindly tell me which point or law of Sharia are you referring to. I hope you tell me specific law or verse from Quran and not some general statement.
In addition Sharia law can be followed in a Muslim state under the caliphate, which is neither in US or in any European state.
I don't think you know much about freedom of religion in Islam.A person is perfectly free to choose their own path but I suggest that a person such do more research into why he or she dislikes Islam. Perhaps you dislike a thing, based on a misunderstanding that can be cleared up.
Again though, if a person chooses to leave,Islam is not a cult and as is mentioned in Quran there is no compulsion in religion, truth stands clear from falsehood. A person can move out of Islam as long as he/she does not create a scene and publicly blames Islam and Messenger of God( Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) ) because of less knowledge and misunderstanding.
To be frank with you i haven't heard or seen much people moving out of Islam in Western countries where you have a free choice, that probably answers your question.
As an educated person, I would advise you instead of have prenotion about Islam why not read English translation of it and find out yourself.
Thank you, Wish you peace.
Don't buy it. As tragic as the Oslo killings indeed are, squelching free speech should not be the outcome. These killings have provided an excuse for Josh Stanton - or anyone else who sees any sort of criticism of Islam as mere wrong-headed "Islamophobia" - to denounce the critics of Islam as potentially sympathetic to psychopath Anders Behring Breivik and his "cause" and methods. This is wrong on so many levels.
Arent you more than just a childish namecaller?
I would be more impressed with your commitment to human rights if I saw more Muslims fighting for the rights of non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries.
In Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims cannot even get together for a religious service, let alone build a church or temple even on their own property. This is the also law in the Maldives, a country that relies on Western and Indian tourism for its livelihood.
In Egypt, Coptic Christians need a Presidential permit to build churches, and it is rarely given. Mosques on the other hand can be built freely anywhere anytime.
In Pakistan, some Hindus have been asked to move their temples inside their houses to avoid "offending Muslims".
In Malaysia, it is illegal for Muslims to convert to other religions and Shia Islam is banned altogether (it is of course legal and encouraged to convert to Islam).
In Afghanistan and Sudan, it is a capital crime to convert Muslims to other religions.
I could go on but you get the idea. If you want people to have a better opinion of Islam, do something about this intolerance in Muslim countries that is blighting the lives of so many innocent Christians, Jews, Hindus and others.
Especially in the US where right-wing Christian militia group are well arm to the teeth, waiting to unleash their vengeance on anyone who does not think and looks like them.
Also, how convenient you refer to Breivik as a psychopath and not terrorist, perhaps he is too good looking for you.
A Muslim commenter has asked, on another thread, if I disagree with Breivik on anything other than the use of cold blooded murder to further my agenda. I hope it is appropriate to reply here without offending my sympathies for the bereaved in Norway.
His question is a fair one that deserves an answer.
Breivik, like millions of Americans, believes that his nation's immigration policy--tripling the immigrant population in 15 years--is nuts. Like millions of Americans, he is frustrated by ineffective policies toward Islamism, the ideology of our opponent in this war.
There ends my agreement with his views.
It is useful to try to place Breivik in the spectrum of participants in this war. I see him as similar to the Islamists who killed Anwar Sadat. If they had gone on to slaughter the children of Sadat's associates, the parallel would be complete.
Sadat's killers have become models for others.
If Breivik should become a John Brown figure for the anti Islamism movement, which I doubt, the civil war within Islam could be duplicated in the West.
On the other hand, aside from his actions, his fears (or phobia) about Islam may be justified.
They are not.
Also, he stated that he wanted to create a civil war by killing his own people. This is exactly what the terrorists aim do in Pakistan and in other countries, is create chaos. Frequently I see that question being asked, why are they killing their own people. Well now you can see the mentality through Breivik. It is the same.
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Islamists see the wave of secular democratization that followed WWII and rationally conclude that this trend, if continued, would be the cause of the end of Islamic civilization as it is presently known.
They learned from the example of Ataturk's Turkey, and are dismantling that experiment in secular Islam as fast as they can without sparking civil war.
Islamist fear of secular democratization (secular Islam)--Islam as just one religion among equals in a Muslim majority state--is well founded.
It's still early, but I suspect you are right about Breivik's intentions. He aspires to be the John Brown of a civil war in the West between the Left and the Right, with Islamization of the West occupying the role that slavery occupied in the American Civil War.
And there is a kind of denial of the problems and still a heavy handed PC censorship in the media.So the breeding ground for people to go to extremes is much larger since there is no healthy debate possible also the second largest party in Norway,the progress party, which is mildly critical of migration and for more integration is boycotted by the other parties instead of coming to some kind of compromise and balanced approach to migration/integration.
"While the party has made numerous proposals on immigration in parliament, it has rarely received majority support for them.[115] Its proposals has largely been rejected by the remaining political parties, as well as the mass media.[66] Although the party's immigration policies have been compared to those of the Danish People's Party and the Sweden Democrats, leading party members have rather seen its immigration policies to resemble those of the Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy "
So you see how someone like this can decide to go extreme, debate about immigration,integration in Norway even mild proposals for reform are getting stonewalled in parliament and repressed in the media.That is the kind of toxic atmosphere that fuels the extremist.
My issue was prior to ascertaining who was responsible for this heinous act on the Norwegian people and their freedoms, the media were quick to speculate and even suggest it was an "Islamic Extremist" organisation(s) already indoctrinating the masses in this highly distorted and unjust view that again the majority of Muslims are to be demonised and are terrorists. This is a woeful justice on humanity as a whole and must be utterly annhiliated from our societies.
My prayers too go out to the Norwegian people who have been terrorised by an extremist, racist, Islamophobic maniac.
People need to see the truth and if they comment at length on Islam, I suggest they study it from all perspectives in an informed way then open their mouths or type their comments - particularly Jeff Clifford below who demonstrates an amazing sense of ignorance, shameful conduct and lies.
My mother, yesterday, went to her post office in Simi Valley, California. A couple that was clearly of an Islamic faith drove up with their car and parked it. The wife was with her new baby and wore traditional head covering. They both went into the post office and my mother had followed. When my mother came out of the post office, the couples car was spray painted horribly. The license plates were covered with black paint. the sides and windows covered with black paint and writing hard to recognize. The back trunk had black paint all over it and then red devil smiley faces with teeth and slanted eyes painted all over it. My mother was shocked. The couple came out and looked at it and went into their car and drove away. They looked like they didn't have much money and this would cost them a lot. However, more importantly, this amount of hateisscary. My mother didn't say anything to them, but now wishes she did. Just to say that she is appauled and this is not right.
The point being this happens everywhere and this was just yesterday with my mother in daylight at the Simi Valley Post Office. This is the city with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Brievik pulled the trigger but the gun was loaded by merchants of fear and hate whose true nature should now be evident for all of us to see. Islamophobia is bigotry--plain and simple-- and these are its bitter fruits.
Peace/salaams/Shalom
There are values that the western world stands for which are at odds with Islam and there is nothing wrong to stand for those values. Unfortunately these horrific incidents tend to undermine the efforts of people who rightfully criticize Islam and the Islamic world.
Wow. when did I ever say "all critics of Islamism" are Islamophobes. As a Muslim I am often critical of particular Muslims or particular positions held by particular Muslims. I mentioned Geller, Pipes, and Spencer. Let me add "the Gates of Vienna." Such folks see all Islam as inherently tainted. Geller and Pipes (and Glenn Beck by the way) drawing upon this nonsense link Muslims with "leftists" and "cultural Marxists." This led Breivik to kill kids on the political left of the spectrum.
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What non Muslim critic of Islamism on the national stage do you exempt from your charge of Islamophobia?
What Muslim critic do exempt?