Anti-Muslim? Not Me - by Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer of course speaks for himself. I may not actually be anti-Muslim, but in my book, anyone who professes to be a Muslim needs to prove that at the same time, he or she is still a sane and rational human being. The burden of proof rests on the believer.

But Spencer makes good points here of course.

Americans are “anti-Muslim” because they think Islam teaches violence and hatred? With Muslims shouting “Allahu akbar” (Allah is greatest) while beheading civilians in Iraq and murdering children in Beslan, Russia, perhaps it’s a bit premature to convict this 25% of Americans of bigotry. With the leader of the Pakistani radical Muslim group Jaish-e-Mohammed, Maulana Masood Azhar, saying last year that “in Islam the only meaning of jihad was killing,” maybe that twenty-five percent is on to something.

It is all Americans (and indeed all Westerners) see of Muslims, in spite of the fact that the MSM (=Mainstream Media) do their utmost to hide as much as possible. There is simply no other news coming out of the Islamic world. But our conclusion that Islam basically sucks in a major way is wrong?

The courageous ex-Muslim Ibn Warraq writer explains: “For every text the liberal Muslims produce, the mullahs will use dozens of counter-examples [that are] exegetically, philosophically, historically far more legitimate.” He adds that “it is time for moderate Muslims to question honestly the principles of their faith. To admit the role of the Qur’an in the propagation of violence.”

And what, after all, is it that we really want from Islam?

It is not hating Muslims to ask them to remove the hate from their religion, and to accept the principles of human rights that are accepted everywhere else in the world.

That's right. Stop hating. Stop the violence that automatically is directed against anyone who does not believe what you do.