Gilliver's Travels
Peripatetic
Racism - or Reason? London Irish’s deliberate conflation of religious criticism with racism is unworthy of an intelligent mind. But it’s a trick used by both ends of the political spectrum. The right uses opposition to Islam as a fig-leaf for its racial hatred of Asians more generally. The left lazily brands as racists those free thinkers and secularists who oppose Islam for the nasty, oppressive, misogynist, homophobic and totalitarian force that it represents in practice, across countless tyrannical theocracies.
Racial and religious discrimination are totally different. An individual’s race is obviously not an option. Religion most certainly is. Which is why Britain, unlike America, has many growing millions of contented ex-Christians. Too many people forget that it actually is possible - even for a Muslim or Kansas fundamentalist - to question, to think for yourself, to abandon ancient fairy stories and blind dogma and embrace logic, reason and the 21st century.
No religion should be beyond criticism: in Britain, there's a long tradition of laughing at vicars. Religions are inherently ridiculous - myths invented by men as a means of political control, conjured out of thin air, no evidence, permanently at war with each other. What on earth would God -- if he existed -- think about that?
So are you a racist or not? The test is simple. The racist by definition will detest all Indians, whether Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Christian or atheist. The secularist, while not sharing those Indians' religious beliefs, will regard them equally, as fellow human beings, as neighbours, friends. But that secularist will absolutely not accept the violent imposition of someone else’s superstitious dogma as a substitute for open and honest exchange of ideas and, yes, direct criticism. That's the price of living in a free society, and anyone applying for admission needs to understand - and accept - that.
In today's situation, we have nothing to fear from Hindus, Jews or Sikhs, but plenty of reasons to criticise and oppose fundamentalist Islam.
Racial and religious discrimination are totally different. An individual’s race is obviously not an option. Religion most certainly is. Which is why Britain, unlike America, has many growing millions of contented ex-Christians. Too many people forget that it actually is possible - even for a Muslim or Kansas fundamentalist - to question, to think for yourself, to abandon ancient fairy stories and blind dogma and embrace logic, reason and the 21st century.
No religion should be beyond criticism: in Britain, there's a long tradition of laughing at vicars. Religions are inherently ridiculous - myths invented by men as a means of political control, conjured out of thin air, no evidence, permanently at war with each other. What on earth would God -- if he existed -- think about that?
So are you a racist or not? The test is simple. The racist by definition will detest all Indians, whether Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Christian or atheist. The secularist, while not sharing those Indians' religious beliefs, will regard them equally, as fellow human beings, as neighbours, friends. But that secularist will absolutely not accept the violent imposition of someone else’s superstitious dogma as a substitute for open and honest exchange of ideas and, yes, direct criticism. That's the price of living in a free society, and anyone applying for admission needs to understand - and accept - that.
In today's situation, we have nothing to fear from Hindus, Jews or Sikhs, but plenty of reasons to criticise and oppose fundamentalist Islam.
