So, I was debating a right winger about how the left should react to Islam, and there was considerable difficulty getting my point across, so I think this is something warranting discussion here. Long story short, there is a HUGE difference between criticizing a religion and engaging in right wing xenophobia toward members of certain religions. Some people on the right make massive strawmen and claim the left thinks can't criticize religions like Islam because it goes against our concept of tolerance. This is basically a strawman.
Yes, we can criticize Islam, and we should criticize Islam. We should criticize all religions. I'm very critical of religion. Before I wrote here I used to write under a different pseudonym on an atheist site criticizing religion. And I often enjoy the likes of the scathing atheist in criticizing religion. In short, for me, the more sacrilegious, the better. It breaks down mental barriers put in place by this idea of sanctity or an idea being off limits and only approached with respect.
But that's not what the right does with religion. In short, the problem with the right is falling into a sort of pit of "hating the sinner" so to speak, when we should "hate the sinner, not the sin." There's a huge difference between paranoia the right exhibits, which I believe is harmful, and intelligent criticism of religion. Here are the differences.
1) The right seems to base its views often on paranoia, fear of the other/unknown, and misconceptions about religion. The right fears Islam for the wrong reasons. They fear outside cultures and religion and see them as a threat to our own. They believe if we allow Muslims into the country we will be overrun by them and they won't assimilate, and they will try to take us over from within. It's the same argument racists make about non white people threatening "white culture" and racial purity and crap. These guys are culture warriors who see Islam as a threat. In reality, the biggest problem we have in this case is Christianity. Christians make up a majority of the population and one party explicitly tries to force religion down out throats, and the other tends to use religious undertones way too often. The right also fears Muslims will engage in terrorist attacks against us, even though only a very small minority will, and even though, guess what, Christians, who these guys have no problem with, do the same thing. This fear of Islam threatening our culture is largely unfounded. I'm sorry, it is.
2) There is a difference between criticizing ideas and attacking PEOPLE for holding them. I tried to make this differentiation with the whole punching Nazis thing. It's the same thing here. Religion, including Islam, is very much fair game for criticism. Trying to deny people rights, which the right is trying to do with their travel bans and discrimination, isn't. I want to remind people that regarding religion, there are two clauses to our constitution. The establishment clause and the free exercise clause. The establishment clause tries to stop the government from establishing religion in government. Under current supreme court interpretations, it's essentially a dedication to having a secular state as the only real way the government can be neutral toward religion. This protects peoples' rights, and stops a religious majority from imposing its will on a minority. The second clause is the free exercise clause, which minimizes the government's ability to restrict people or discriminate against them on the basis of their religion. Once again, intended to protect their freedom. In this society, I have freedom to criticize ideas. I also have freedom to have my own ideas. They can be criticized too. But you know what? We can't be persecuted for our views, and the state cannot and should not take action against us simply for holding views.
As such, the real liberal position, in my opinion, on Islam, is that it's okay to criticize it, but it's not okay to persecute people or deny them their rights because they hold such views. Period.
I don't like Islam. I don't like it at all. I think it's a primitive barbaric religion with a lot of harmful teachings. But I will defend your right to believe in it insofar as you obey our laws and respect the rights of others yourself. Same with Christianity. Same with any religion.
3) A lot of the criticisms the right makes are unfounded. The right likes to cherrypick teachings from the Quran or whatever, take them GROSSLY out of context, and then use them to fear monger against Islam. They take words that are clearly meant for a much different cultural and political context and claim the Muslims are trying to attack us and crap. You can't really understand a holy book or its teachings unless you understand the context within which they were written. This doesn't always absolve the religion of criticism since quite frankly, some lessons are bad regardless of context, but it helps a lot in clearing up misinformation. The same applies to the Bible. Try reading it some time, right wing Christians, especially the old testament. All kinds of horrid crap in there too. Especially the old testament. But...context, right? It has a context right that diminishes its harmfulness right? No crap, so does the Quran. So stop spreading misinformation.
That being said, there is a huge difference between being critical of religion and being a xenophobe. Criticizing Islam is a okay. Even more, I think it's something that should be encouraged. I do believe religions should be HARSHLY criticized, and I believe that the ideas within many of them are false and harmful. But once again, just like was the case with defending Nazis from being punched, we live in a civil society in which we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And it's wrong to discriminate against and fear monger about religious groups, often out of fear and ignorance.
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