Dialogues with “Moderate” Muslims

There was a recent discussion on CNN recently between Sam Harris and Islamic “moderate”, Dean Obeidallah. Here is that actual clip, it runs for about 10 minutes. The context is the prevailing issues regarding the very negative attitudes of many towards Islam, and of course this dialogue was triggered by Ben Carson’s declaration that a Muslim could … Read more

Islamophobia or a misunderstanding over a diet coke?

As I’m sure you are aware, Tahera Ahmad had a story that went viral in the mainstream media … I am sitting on a United airlines flight in the air 30,000ft above and I am in tears of humiliation from discrimination. The flight attendant asked me what I would like to drink and I requested a … Read more

BBC Poll of British Muslims – What does it really tell us about Islamophobia?

So there has been a poll of British Muslims that was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and the results are now out. There is both good news but also some rather worrying stuff as well. First, what did they actually do? They polled one thousand and that is supposed to be a number that is statistically … Read more

The phantom menace of militant atheism

Nick Cohen has written a fabulous article in the Guardian today. In it he attacks the very idea that there is some moral equivalence that holds sway, and that there is militant religion on one side and militant atheism on the other. He makes reference to some recent cases … the Christian right is rallying opposition to equality with the cry that … Read more

Islamophobia or fact-based Criticism?

A genuinely nice chap who is a member of the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect recently wrote an article entitled “‘Talibani Atheism’ & how it fuels Islamophobia”. For background context, the Ahmadiyya are a fringe Islamic sect that renounce all violence, which is of course praise worthy, and in fact they suffer a considerable degree of intolerance and discrimination … Read more

“Islamophobia” – What is wrong with this term?

The word “Islamophobia” is defined as a prejudice against, hatred towards, or irrational fear of Muslims, and as a definition that is fine. The problem however is that is not how the term is actually deployed. Instead of being a word used to criticise an irrational emotional bias, akin to say racism or xenophobia, it is instead being … Read more