I just don’t get it. All those suicide bombers in Israel? Muslim. Terrorist attacks in Spain, London? Done by Muslims. Terrorists attacks on U.S. property abroad and at home over the last 20 – 30 years? Generally done by Muslims (notable exceptions to include Eric Rudolph, Ted Kaczynski, Tim McVeigh and others). The recently foiled plan to infiltrate Fort Dix, New Jersey and cause death and destruction? Muslims.
But so what? Why on earth would intelligent, rational human beings throughout the world feel that followers of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) needed to be watched a bit more closely than, say, the Amish? Islamophobia – it’s kind of like fearing rat poison. It’s pretty harmless in a sealed container on a high shelf behind a locked door. But it’s not something you keep lying around on kitchen countertops.
I’ll start fearing Catholics when they start promising eternal rewards to those who kill innocent civilians. I’ll fear the Jews when synagogues start preaching hate. And I’ll start fearing evangelicals, JWs and Mormons when they stop trying to convert me and instead try to annihilate me.
Reit This Way 
Well said.
I agree that most terrorist acts these days are performed by muslims, however, I think what the article means is that people tend to generalize that all muslims are terrorists… I’ve known a few (but there were not many in the places where I lived), and they were all good, normal people who lived their faith in a gentle manner, like most christians I know. Remember that religious fanaticism isn’t only the muslims realm. Remember that Ireland has known relative peace from terrorists only for a short time now…but would you go as far as saying all Irish are terrorists? Or all the religious extremists in Europe who killed the others who had a different faith for several centuries?Nazis were bad. But to go as far as saying that all Germans from that time were bad people is going too far. Remember, even the pope had been in one of their organizations!What I am trying to say is that right now, a lot of people are making generalizations about muslims, putting them all in the same basket, and quite frankly, I understand it might infuriate many of them! That the government is more suspicious for terrorists when it comes to muslims, it’s understandable, however, it doesn’t make it ok to say we should get rid of all of them (I’ve heard people going as far as saying “We should nuke them all so we would be rid of the problem”). THAT is where it is starting to really become an issue on our part.
I forgot! Usually, terrorist attacks in Spain are done by the ETA and in London it was the IRA… It was quite a shock when they announced the ETA was not the group responsible for the Madrid bonbing!
I don’t judge any <>person<> or even any group to be intrinsically terroristic. I’m saying when, worldwide, most violence seems to be coming from those acting in the name of a particular religion, it is not surprising that those of us outside of that relgion (or even within that religion) would be fearful of those who belong to that religion. As far as the Irish Catholics living in Northern Ireland ten or twenty years ago, I think the Protestants living in Northern Ireland had just cause for being fearful of them, and do not find it at all surprising that friendships between the two groups were rare. When hate seems to be the exclusive language of a loud portion of a group and the rest keep silent, they deserve social condemnation. I don’t care how understandable their actions are, they <>may not<> act like that. It is counter to the interests of all people in all the world.The Pope was in Hitler Youth, a mandatory organisation, and he was a <>youth<>. Did the Germans deserve social condemnation for their actions (or lack thereof)during WWII? Hell, yes. There were many many heroes at that time. There were also many who feared for their own lives and kept silent. Poland was invaded and instantly fell under a dictatorship. Dachau was built in 1929, ten years prior to the invasion of Poland. Germany had been a democracy of sorts prior to Hitler. I do not condemn individuals (I leave that to God who knows their hearts). But I do not see the Germans as a whole as “victims” to that wacko Austrian either.I am tired of a politically correct attitude that doesn’t want to offend a group as a whole for the misbehavior of what they claim to be a small, but very vocal and very violent, segment of their religion. If they will not condemn their own (and they don’t), then it is up to the rest of us to do so.I’m not talking violent reprisals, although that may be necessary. I’m saying that the world needs to demand better behavior and stop hiding every time the Muslims of the world say we’re being mean and unfair.