When you search "fear of Islam" on the internet, the first entry is a Wikipedia article entitled "Islamophobia." When you search "fear of Christianity," the first entry is a Yahoo Answers post from 2008 entitled "Fear of Christians...?" Now tell me. Do you see a problem here?
If someone tells me they're Christian (or any sect thereof), I get scared. My mind flashes to the Westboro Baptist Church's URL (godhatesfags.com) and images of white-hooded figures burning crosses. I have flashbacks to the movie Jesus Camp. Is that unfair? Maybe. But if someone tells me they're Muslim, I do not get scared. My initial association with Islam is not violence and hatred, it's my 6th grade social studies class, because we did a really long, extensive unit on Islam. And then I think of my friend's grandmother who converted to Islam. I like her. She's nice. And then I think of Zayn Malik, because he's Muslim. And I love Zayn Malik.
I have a lot of problems with the how people are reacting, and have reacted for many years, to jihadists and extremists by conflating their actions with the actions and ideologies and beliefs of all Muslims everywhere. If we're going to commit to fearing all members of the 2nd most practiced religion of the world, then we need to commit to fearing all members of the 1st most practiced religion of the world: Christianity. People have been fighting in the name of "God" and "Jesus" for years so they can get away with doing hateful shit. Whether you go to the Wikipedia entry, kkk.com, or kkkknights.com, the message is the same: the KKK aligns itself with Protestantism, and they do what they do because they claim it's "God's will." Same with the Westboro Baptist Church. They may not be directly affiliated with the Baptist Church, but they definitely use their "religion" as a crutch. I could list thousands of examples of organizations or people who attempt to color their bigotry as anything other than it is by using Christianity as their paintbrush.
Anyone will jump up immediately to say, "Not all Christians!" the same way they'd say "Not all men!" or "Not all cops!" Really? Are we playing that game? Okay, fine. Let's talk about how over the summer, the Supreme Court got rid of the 35-foot buffer zone between protestors and abortion clinic because they felt it directly attacked anti-abortion protestors. WHAT THE FUCK? Is being physically and verbally harassed on your way to doing something very personal THAT LITERALLY AFFECTS NO ONE ELSE not a direct attack? Let's think, what do most pro-lifers cite as their reason for believing abortions give you a one-way ticket to hell? It's Jesus. And what about the time that Rep. Todd Akin said, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down"? He's Christian. Honestly, I don't even want to keep going with this list, I'm just going to get pissed off.
If we're going to keep defending racists, homophobes, murderers, rapists, and the like by saying not all men/cops/Christians/et cetera, then why the fuck are we not saying "Not all Muslims"? Because if any of those deserve to have a "not all" in front of it, it's Muslims. Because people of the Muslim faith do not actually pose a threat, it's a specific group of people within the much, much, much larger global Muslim community. Cisgender men have proven for centuries that they can and will take advantage of women. Of course not every single man is a rapist, but the way people born with penises are socialized and educated and treated, the way they are taught to be a MAN, is very much inclusive of misogyny, sexism, and the objectification of anyone who is not a cisgender man. Of course not all cops have killed people, but it is in their training and imbedded in our culture to kill those we don't like. Of course not all Christians hunt down Black people in their free time or stand outside abortion clinics throwing eggs or believe that being anything but cisgender and heterosexual is a sin, but it is part of modern Christianity to be taught these things. These ideas are drilled into people's heads by their families, by their churches, by mass media, by politicians, by almost everyone, because Christianity has its foot in every door Fearing things that have, historically, for decades, been hurting and targeting specific groups of people--that's rational. Those are real fears, with valid reasons. Fearing all brown-skinned people and all Muslims because there are a few groups of people that fit those descriptions that have unsound and harmful beliefs? That's racism, xenophobia, whatever name you wanna give it, I don't care. The bottom line is that it's fucked up and needs to stop.
