No, we don’t fear Islam (only some of the people acting on it)

»Islamophobia« is a weird concept. It feels like a case of »accuse the other what you yourself are guilty of«.

»Islamophobia« literally means a »pathological fear of Islam«. But that is doubly wrong! And ironically, as I will show.

I am not afraid of ideas, which is what ideologies (in theory) are made of. But I am afraid of the consequences of people that harbor ideas that consider me as less of a human — and I am pretty sure that is healthy. Let me explain!

Christians and western Consumers — the latter raised inside Christian culture but unaware of its scaffolding — share one assumption: Every human being carries the same inherent worth. They could be forgiven for thinking this universally shared. Alas, among the world’s religions, they stand alone in holding it. Blindness to this asymmetry is a civilizational vulnerability.

Islam makes the asymmetry explicit. The Quran declares non-believers »the worst of creatures« (Al-Bayyinah 98:6). Islamic Law goes further: the Kafir is classified as »unclean« — najis — listed alongside blood, semen, pigs and dogs (shiastudies.com). This is not fringe interpretation. It is classical jurisprudence, built directly on the text.

I am not afraid of ideas, and I have the receipts to prove. I studied philosophy, specializing in logic and philosophy of language. I also appreciate the church fathers, and I actually both enjoy and find deep meaning in discussing the »counter-arguments« to my belief like the Theodicy. If you want to win my respect and sympathy, prove me wrong and thus help me be less wrong.

I am surely not phobic or afraid of an idea.

I am afraid of people’s actions that tend to be a direct consequence of people considering me less of a human.

The irony of the accusation »Islamophobia« is that it is usually not the Islamophobe who is afraid of ideas.

It seems to be repeatedly Muslims who are so afraid of contrary ideas that they attack, suppress and kill anybody expressing doubt about their ideas. In this sense »Islamophobia« is a case of »accuse the other side of what you are guilty of«.

Oh, we all seek God each in his own way — so goes the spirit of Lessing’s ring parable, and other Freemasons are happy to agree, implying moral and spiritual equivalence. I disagree. I don’t see much common moral ground with ideologies that consider me of a different, »unclean« nature.

»You consider me as unclean as semen and pigs, while I consider you a child of God just as me« — does that sound like common moral ground?

I have read some of their moral guidelines. They only scare me insofar as they could be followed.

I do not agree with the »useful idiots« of the west, who want to force us to lie that there are no fundamental differences in values.

And I would like to contrast their values with my tradition.

Jesus says:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

– Matthew 10:29-30

Every single human is given immeasurable dignity, whether a believer or non-believer, whether man or woman, whether killed in the womb or blessed by old age.

Yet I am also told not to lie, not to bear false witness.

Jesus makes it pretty clear:

Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

– Matthew 5:37

When Jesus asks me to turn the other cheek, he asks me to bear your insults — and that I will do.

But if you want to take my life, be it because you consider me less of a human, or because in reality you are the one who is afraid of ideas, I will ask men with weapons to protect me and my family.

I will thank them and I will pray for them — as I pray for you.