“What we want to do today is debunk myths,” stated Atlantic Council President Frederick Kempe at the Washington, DC, organization’s October 20 event “Islamophobia: Overcoming Myths and Engaging in a Better Conversation.” Yet the panelists merely offered hackneyed arguments diverting attention from current Islamist threats, casting disrepute on an Atlantic Council once founded to stimulate civic engagement in transatlantic security.
Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, publisher of the leading Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, dismissed any legitimate concerns about Islamic doctrine by stating that “Islamophobia…stems from phobia, which is a fear of the unknown.” British religion writer and notorious Islam apologist Karen Armstrong similarly spoke of a “phobia, an irrational fear, it is not based on reason, it is based on a gut feeling.” Blurring distinctions between critiquing a belief system like Islam and ethnic prejudice, Kempe discussed the “line between security concerns and racism.”
For Sabancı, the “answer is very simple. Let’s get rid of the phobia…let’s get to know each other,” yet her appeal for intercultural dialogue contained limits evoking “Islamophobia’s” totalitarian nature. “Freedom of speech is the backbone of democracy, but it should not be exercised at the cost of attacking one’s dignity, it should not be exercised at the cost of attacking one’s faith either, because dignity is also a human right,” she stated. This rather unusual position for a publisher paralleled Dr. Mehmet Aydin, former head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). He warned that when “saying nasty things about the prophet” Muhammad of Islam, “you have to be very careful…we have to respect the values of other cultures.”
The panelists exhibited no such concern for European security measures amidst millions of Muslim refugees overwhelming Europe with various economic and terrorism worries. “This is going to take its place in history as the most disgraceful human act,” Sabancı stated with reference to Europe’s new zeal for border barriers. “It doesn’t seem long ago, does it, when we were cheering because the Berlin wall was being torn down,” Armstrong contrasted.
Armstrong evoked ominous historical analogies of epochs in which “there have been these explosions of hatred of certain groups, just think of the Crusades,” where Crusaders “slaughtered Muslims with great joy.” This common slander (see President Barack Obama) of Crusaders as mere bloodthirsty aggressors preceded her trite Nazism invocation while discussing the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa calling for British writer Salman Rushdie’s death. At the time, she was “appalled by the way British intellectuals, the great and the good, segued away from a denunciation of the fatwa to an out-and-out denunciation of Islam itself. I said to myself, we have learned nothing in Europe since the 1930s.”
Armstrong’s imagination somehow juxtaposed justifiable outrage in the United Kingdom and elsewhere at lethal Islamic blasphemy doctrine with the subsequent 1990s eruption of the Balkans bloodbath. “There were concentration camps again on the outskirts of Europe, this time with Muslims in them,” she stated. Apparently unaware of any Balkan wars, including the Ottoman Empire’s jihad conquests, she superficially described the prior history of a region “where Muslims, Jews, and Christians had coexisted amicably for centuries.”
As usual, Armstrong had “very few good words to say for the British Empire,” particularly in the Middle East, where British policies “bear a considerable responsibility for a lot of the problems in the region today.” She criticized supposedly hypocritical leaders like Prime Minister David Cameron with their 2015 post-Charlie Hebdo massacre Paris free speech demonstrations after decades of supporting Middle East dictators. Yet their overthrow in Egypt, Iraq, and Libya has not advanced freedom.
Echoing Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s scandalous post-September 11, 2001 remarks, global jihad by groups like Al Qaeda also elicited Western guilt from School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Dean Vali Nasr. After 9/11, “Islamophobia, in a way, was a policy deliberately pushed from the very top of the U.S. administration” as indicated by President George W. Bush’s use of “Islamo-fascism,” Nasr stated. “Islamophobia was a way of passing the blame back to the Muslims, put Islam itself on trial for its responsibility in promoting terrorism rather than put U.S. foreign policy on trial for creating some of the problems.”
By contrast, Nasr celebrated Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood-pandering June 4, 2009, Cairo speech, whose “great success was that essentially he officially in Cairo, without saying so, abandoned Islamophobia as official American policy.” Obama “essentially said, this is about U.S. policy and I am going to put one U.S. policy on the table which is called the Arab-Israeli peace process.” How this moribund “peace process” with Arabs still resolutely rejecting Israel’s existence as a Jewish state would solve Shia-Sunni conflicts across the Middle East or end the Islamic State in Iraq and (Greater) Syria (ISIS), Nasr left unanswered.
Nasr’s response to an audience question concerning secularism suggested that Middle East instability had its own Islamic sources. “Secularism…has failed in every account, it has failed in economic development, it has failed in social development, most importantly it has failed in the one thing that matters to Muslims, which is to give them dignity and power on the world stage.” “Secularism’s fate was sealed in 1967 when it was beaten to a pulp by a small country that was built in the name of religion,” he stated while describing Israel’s dramatic defeat of Arab nationalist dictatorships. “Actually the promise of ISIS was the promise of empowerment,” he stated while describing ISIS’ appeal to Muslims worldwide.
The Atlantic Council’s “Islamophobia” panel does poor credit to an organization founded in 1961 to strengthen public interest in the affairs of NATO members. Armstrong and Nasr recalled more Cold War revisionism rather than confident policies that wore down Communism. Sabancı and Aydin’s free speech reservations reminded why Turkey has become such an uncertain NATO member under the anti-Western, revanchist, Islamist authoritarianism of Aydin’s fellow AKP member, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Perhaps influenced by foreign Turkish funding, the Atlantic Council is poorly serving the West in its current defense of freedom.
Cross-posted from the Religious Freedom Coalition.

Kirk says
I heard Karen Armstrong speak at a Barnes & Noble in 2000, read her book “A History of God” and even got her to sign a copy. She is incredibly dishonest. I didn’t realize how much until I heard her speak. I was aghast. She stood up there and apologized for Islam the entire time while condemning Christianity and Western society. That woman is a bitter ex-nun with a huge chip on her shoulder.
abad says
I had to read that book back in college and did not think much of it.
All I can see is a woman with an axe to grind – Karen Armstrong, a woman who wants to keep her burdens and miseries as Islam dictates instead of letting go – as Christianity teaches.
What a sad woman.
Havoc says
Karen Armstrong taught GFB everything she knows about Islam.
Havoc says
Make that, “everything HE knows” …
Rob Porter says
Kirk, well said. The pathetic Karen Armstrong has a ‘phobia’, a fear of the truth about savage Islam. She is a terrible liar, her version of Middle East history not worth reading. Boko Haram has committed terrible crimes in Nigeria, among other things slaughtered school children by cutting their throat as they tried to flee their school hostels. Al Shabaab committed shocking acts against other human being in their assault in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. ISIS has committed terrible acts in Iraq, Syria and Libya, yet to this lunatic woman it is a ‘phobia’ that drives people to fear and want to destroy such ghastly people. Well then, it is evident, Karen Armstrong has mental issues. She has a total inability to face truth and reality.
She has an obsession with portraying Muslim general, Saladin, as a wondrous man who never lost a battle to the Crusaders – rotten Christians after all! Unfortunately for that scenario, in 1177 the young leper king, Baldwin IV arrived at Montgisard with a very small force of Crusaders, 5,000 or 6,000 to face Saladin’s 26,000 – 27,000. Only 10 percent of Saladin’s soldiers survived and got back to Egypt and Saladin escaped on a racing camel. And then not once did he defeat in battle Richard the Lionhearted.
In reality Armstrong should rent herself out to haunt houses. Just imagine in the dark a flashlight from below lighting up that face. Wow!
Tom Thumb says
why does’t that ugly toad get that gap in her teeth fixed. Nothing says trailer trash on a woman like it.
JIMJFOX says
That chip is 20lb of ugly fat- her head. She hates life for belting her so hard with the UglyStick.
A burka would improve her looks immeasurably.
rich says
Damn. If I had a face like that, I’d want to wear a veil too.
abad says
LOL
CrossWare says
You said what I was thinking…
Linde Barrera says
To Karen Armstrong and her minions- Islam negates the dignity of all non-Muslims and even the dignity of any Muslim woman who is forced to wear the head covering/ veil, as well as having to put up with more than 1 wife, since Islam allows 4 wives. As for me, I am ISLAMOPHOBIC AND PROUD OF IT. Stop being stupid, Karen Armstrong.
sinantara says
and I am Islamophobic because I live in a country with a Muslim majority. Here Islamophobia is just prudent, because if you’re not you may become careless and say something that will be overheard and give the mobs a reason to start burning down churches of vihara’s. Whereupon I will be arrested for a) insulting Islam, b) instigating unrest… Although the unspoken understanding will be that my trial is to appease the mob so that I will not be lynched. or is this technically not phobia because it is not irrational but very rational?
Right now hundreds and thousands are demonstrating against the governor of Jakarta, Ahok, who is a Christian Chinese. He became governor because of a political accident, as the deputy of governor Jokowi who is now the President. Since then he has been a thorn in the side of Muslims, and now they accuse him of having insulted Islam and call for his removal and arrest, and for his death. Why? He told somebody, if you want to vote for me but somebody has told you that this is against Islam, don’t believe it because Al Maaida 51 (don’t take Jews and Christians for your leaders) is not true…
So the Muslims are in an uproar, but most don’t even know what the issue was, it is enough that a Christian has power of Muslims to create resistance, The problem they face is that Ahok is competent and honest, so most Jakartans don’t care about the religion of their governor, they’re just happy with competent and honest. This even led to a fatwa from the MUI (Indonesia Council of Ulama) that a corrupt Muslim leader is still better then a honest Christian one, because a corrupt Muslim is not ideal (he just will steal your money) but will not endanger your aqidah. Meaning, people will start to think good things about an unbeliever, which may be the beginning of the end. So it seems that Muslims in general suffer from Christianphoby. And the reason is, if people use their eyes and brains they will stumble on so many inconvenient truths…
One very Muslim friend was a teacher at an university in East Java. After comparing statistics on development of a number of countries he decided that statistics are not that useful. And of course stopped at that, he would not try to find out where the statistical error was or search for missing factors. I thought him a moderate, he was not trying to explain the gap by pointing to the Sykes Picot line or any Zionist CIA Crusader plot to keep Islamic countries under developed. He just slipped in a mild state of denial, being Javanese. If he would be a professor at a US or Canadian progressive university he probably would call statistics and logical thinking the invention of dead white males and denounce them. I remember a book when I was studying in the US, is Science Sexist? Well, I once had a debate with a student, supposedly trained to think logically who was led to the conclusion that snow geese are fascist because they were studied by Konrad Lorentz who in his youth served in a SS Panzer battalion. I first thought the he was pulling my leg. Then I helped him out.
I was first amazed at the progressive fervor in academia until I started to see it as a sign of envy and a mental effort not to become intimidated and beaten down by western civilization. Imagine that you come from the Sudan, black and Muslim, and you’re plunged into America, rushing ahead in all fields of science and technology with a culture that shocked Sayyid Qutb even in the 50ties. Shocked because the people are infidels and sinners (drinking alcohol, showing their aurat, proud to be gay, playing cards etc etc) and God is not raining fire on them from heaven! And worse, if one looks deeper, there is a goodness that is even more shocking… Because even atheists follow a Judeo Christian ethic which permeates society. If one cares to look deeper… Take migrants, the west takes them in, sighing and cursing and becomes divided over them against themselves. But why do countries with Islamic majorities don’t take them in as brothers in need? And western civilization is carried by a people who are mostly white… So how to digest this without accepting the simple truth, western civilization is more advanced and then way to progress is through it–and this is the attitude of the east Asian students… Mlaster the west then beat in in the global market place.
But our Sudanese has a problem. The east Asians are backed up by their culture. Neo Confucianism, Taoism, Zazen, Hindu concepts of cosmic consciousness, no problem with learning from and mastering the west. Islam is saddled up by too much of a religion that tells its followers they should be in the lead and the west should learn from them because they are in possession of the truth and everything is already in the quran. With other words, how to learn from the west if the west is an abomination?
So a number of my fellow students instead of studying busied themselves by proving the inferiority of the west because of its morals and denying the goodness of the west. The west has to be evil, worthless… I sat in in some black study classes. It was all about how whites has stolen their culture from blacks via Egypt and the Moors via Spain etc. And my Muslim friends too had to defend themselves by being overwhelmed by the west by focusing on whatever was wrong with it and whatever was a Muslim legacy… But then this mentally hampered learning and the result was that none excelled in his studies and went back with a grudge feeling slighted (because feeling slight). Another reaction was, if God doesn’t rain fire on the infidels then we have to do it, maybe God is sleeping?
Linde Barrera says
To Sinantara- I am still up even though it is 1:26 am Nov.4, 2016 here in Brooklyn, NY. I just read your comment of 1:08 am, same date. GOD BLESS YOU. I really feel sad and dreadful for any Christian person living in a Muslim majority country. I will pray for your well being and safety. I have made monetary contributions to organizations like Open Doors, Hatune Foundation, Barnabas Aid, and others, all of which I learned about from some of the excellent people here at JihadWatch.org. I hope you have plans to leave the place you are in and move to a country that will welcome and value you. I also found your comments to be very upsetting and sickening about cerain aspects of life among Muslims that you know firsthand. Please keep us in the loop, sinantara. And again, GOD BLESS YOU. I will pray for you. And if you are on Facebook with a different moniker, good for you. Maybe you can friend me? (I post under my name.) Take care now and be safe please.
sinantara says
I am worse then an infidel, I am an apostate. And that happened because I started to read the quran in earnest and decided it is better to face trouble and become clear before God than to life a lie. you know I am in tears right now because somebody is praying for me from afar
Linde Barrera says
To Sinantara- I will call out your name in church on Sunday during prayer time. Keep being strong my friend. The Lord is with you and anyone who invites Him to come and dwell in their heart.
sinantara says
thank you
gravenimage says
Good luck to you–things are not easy–or safe–for any Infidel in Indonesia.
Dom107 says
Yes that non-existent being God who is never held to account for the bad things which happen and is always thanked and praised for the good which happens.!
Its time the human species used their advanced brains to the full and realized there is no god,no heaven,no hell,no supernatural at all,no message or instructions from above.
The Universe is more vast than our mind can imagine.No creator of this(if he existed) would care what we do or require our praise or adoration.No more than we required bacteria to worship us.
True enlightenment comes from science and technology which has improved the lot of millions on this Earth.The countries which lag behind and are consumed by war and poverty are those who cling to ancient religions and tribalism.Their lives are so miserable that they jump at the chance to get to the successful advanced countries but some who get there are so brainwashed they try to recreate the very culture which made them miserable in the first place.
Linde Barrera says
To Dom107- As per your comment of 12:35 pm, Nov. 4, 2016, of course you are entitled to your opinion and I have no problem with any agnostic or atheist, those who espouse that philosophy or doctrine are ok with me. But in my opinion, a religion (any religion) is supposed to help its adherents grow in pure spiritual positive energy, help others whether in that religion or outside it, and cause the adherents to grasp that our imited human minds cannot comprehend the wonders of the infinite. No human could create the human race or the stuff that is within the natural world. And as far as salvation (standing before God, blameless) only Christianity offers that aspect of a God sacrificing Himself for His creatures, to redeem them for His purpose. And you know Dom107, in the Old Testament in Genesis, it states that God was sorry that He made mankind because men were very wicked at that time and renounced God’s teachings. So the Lord God spared Noah and his family and in-laws, and caused the Flood to drown all other humans. This story is remarkable to me because it shows God having feelings like a human would. And who would want to spend eternity with anyone that constantly rejected him/her?
Ted Tyler says
Dom, Be aware that many of the people on this site believe that God caused the Great Flood and simultaneously believe that God is a God of Love. In view of that, it might be best to focus on our primary objective on maintaining our freedom of speech and fighting blasphemy laws. As I see it, since we are no longer in the 1500s, Christianity is no longer a threat to scientific progress – but Islam – with its thought control straight out of Orwell’s 1984 – is a very serious threat. My view is that we should focus our efforts on destroying Islam and not waste time with supernatural beliefs.
Linde Barrera says
To Ted Tyler- I agree with you. And spouting off here serves a purpose, but we need to tell everyone we know about the value of accurate truthful information published in the articles here at JihadWatch.org. Finally, all of us need to be in touch with our elected reps about issues presented here because we cannot afford to be the silent majority on any issue related to Islam.
carol says
Sinantara…it’s fascinating to hear someone’s personal experience and since you’ve worked as an academic you have a surer grasp as to how the Islamic mind works. Thanks for sharing your insight. We’re all aware of “culture shock” but with extremists it seems to go beyond this and you start wondering if something alien gets ingrained in their DNA or hard-wired into their brains – it’s just so alien to see that people can actually be like this!
Your exposition revealed a glimmer of humanity however. It was when you wrote about a sneaking suspicion they’re beginning to have about the kufar:
…”Shocked…God is not raining fire on them…And worse, if one looks deeper there is a goodness that is even more shocking…Because even atheists follow a Judeo Christian ethic which permeates society. If one cares to look deeper…”
We can only hope that glimmer gets to them before nuclear arms do.
Ted Tyler says
Great post from Sinantara. It looks like Sinantara has answered my primary question which is: “Why is Islam propagating so rapidly?” The short answer is “Because Islam suppresses free speech and punishes non-believers intensely. With other religions, the suppression and the punishment is relatively mild”
ce nunley says
It seems I see Islam and Christianity constantly painted with the same brush by non believers. I am Christian and would have been considered myself Islamophobic at one time. I educated myself on Islam. There’s a very good reason to be afraid of this doctrine. Those cutting hands or heads off are practicing their religion by the book. On the other hand any Christian that blows up abortion clinics or other acts like that are not following the bible.
Science and technology has improved the lot of humanity as you say but it has also mechanized the battlefield and killed millions. Science and technology will never teach morals.
Ted Tyler says
So what is the best way to educate Atheists to the fact that Islam is just a bit different from all other religions? I particularly like the videos by Pam Geller, Robert, David Wood, and Bill Warner; but, most of these videos come on too strong. I would be looking something gentle – perhaps with a title like: “Introduction to Islam for people who believe that Islam is a religion of peace”.
Angemon says
http://www.csectioncomics.com/comics/lies-damned-lies-and-lions
Mockingjay says
Excellent stuff, Angemon
!
marblenecltr says
Karen Armstrong, I believe that you know better, and many who read or hear you may not. I may be wrong, if I am, accept my apologies, please, and attain needed information from what I write here.
What is the source of Islamophobia? Start with chapters eight and nine of the Koran, the Hadith, and other scriptures believed by Muslims to be the commands of their god and to be obeyed. Follow up with the immediate following more than a century of bloodshed and total enslavement of prisoners from India, west going over North Africa, and north in Europe into France. Study the causes of the Crusades and the Ottoman attempt to take Europe but stopped from seizing Vienna. Then read a good newspaper.
Salome says
Ooooh, I can’t read any of the things you tell me about because I suggest that they might say something bad about Islam or the conduct of Muslims, and that would be wrong, because Muslims are Victims, and therefore vulnerable (pronounced vunrable) and you mustn’t even think or read anything that might offend them if they got wind of it. Ergo, they are above criticism, so I’ll just stay in my little PC cocoon and hide from the disillusioning truth.
No Fear says
Islamophobia is NOT fear of the unknown. It is fear of the KNOWN. I have read Quran and many many hadiths. Islam is fascism, pure and simple.
dsinc says
Good one.
Rob says
The First Crusade took place 300 years AFTER Islam reached its apogee in Western Europe.
The Crusades were a reaction not an initiative.
J-pal says
Well, IF she would have been an apostate in a “peace-loving context” (that is, a muslim country), where the requirement of wearing full cover of the body – to the end of her finger-nails – she would have been stoned by now – and nobody would ever have ever heard of her name, fate, “religion”, etc… I just wonder how she deals with that fact…every day women are “disposed of” because of even lesser “errors”… ask the suffering ladies in those countries where they live under constant threats, before its too late, about “islamophobia”…
j_not_a says
Speaking of women’s fingernails, I read the other day that in Mosul if ISIS saw women’s hands exposed they would tear women’s fingernails off with pliers. Freaking b@st@rds. They are going to get what’s coming to them soon enough. I pray sooner than later.
Islam_Macht_Frei says
“At the time, she was “appalled by the way British intellectuals, the great and the good, segued away from a denunciation of the fatwa to an out-and-out denunciation of Islam itself. I said to myself, we have learned nothing in Europe since the 1930s.””
It’s like letting revulsion of the Holocaust and war mongering segue into a denunciation of Nazism itself, right Karen??
Custos Custodum says
While the publisher of Turkey’s government-approved Hürriyet newspaper jets to snooty “Atlantic Council” gabfests in the service of Islam, Turkey’s most respected newspaper Cumhuriyet (“The Republic”) is threatened with closure by Erdogan’s National Socialist Islamic dictatorship.
BTW the “Atlantic Council” lists as its “Chairman, International Advisory Board” one Brent Scowcroft.
davej says
Yes, it’s a gut feeling – after reading the Koran and seeing the endless stream of atrocities committed by Muslims.
Karen Armstrong is a horrible, deluded and deceptive person, just like the Ideology she defends.
Ted Tyler says
It would be great if we had a psychologist to figure out WHY Karen Armstrong is an apologist for Islam.
Mubarak says
The excitement for Islam is fueled by a profound hatred for Christianity or/and its caricatures, I suppose.
gravenimage says
Where does Mubarak’s enthusiasm for Muslim rape come from?
Mubarak says
From psalm 9:8
“And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.”
and Esaiah 26:9
“….for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”
– and the like.
Mubarak says
PS:
If you should wonder how the judgment of God can find expression in the rape of a young boy, I can only compliment your sensitivity. A person who cannot be troubled by that has lost his humanity. The judgment is rather on parents and a culture that in self-complacency, ignorance and indifference have left its children to take care of themselves in a dangerous world.
Ted Tyler says
I suspect that the success of Islam (its ability to propagate and grow) is due to its ability to do early and intense brainwashing of its children. Like the Hitler Youth, get them at an early age, do the indoctrination properly, and they will believe anything.
To do effective brainwashing, you must rely heavily of Faith. A “Person of Faith” is considered to be a virtuous person. Those without Faith are lost souls to burn in Hell forever. In the 1500’s, those who questioned the established dogma could be burned alive by Christians. People of Faith don’t like to have it be pointed out that their Faith requires a lot of false assumptions, a lot of unproven assumptions, and a lot of circular reasoning to make their religions system work. Here in the United States, we Atheists are not likely to get elected to public office – be we have no fear of being killed for our beliefs of lack of beliefs as the case may be. Islam, like Christianity of the past, is not so forgiving.
Islam can take the mind of a person and program it with garbage that will destroy the person’s ability to reason. The properly trained Muslim is like a Zombie, doing what it is told by its evil doctrine. And its doctrine tells it to have large families, infect its children with the virus of Islam, and propagate Islam to the ends of the earth.
Islam elevates men over women – so it is easy to see why a man might prefer the Islamic system to the western system in which men and women should be equal before the Law. But how could any woman be an Islamic Apologist? Thus,the question of the motivation of Karen Anderson remains unanswered.
gravenimage says
The appalling Mubarak wrote:
From psalm 9:8
“And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.”
and Esaiah (sic) 26:9
“….for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”
– and the like.
…………………………..
And Mubarak is here again pretending that Muslim’s raping us is ‘God’s judgment’. *Ugh*.
He has, in fact, demanded that we invite in more Muslims to rape us so that we can atone for such “sins” as allowing women to attend public celebrations and to work and study along side men.
He pretends that Christianity demands Purdah for women, and rape if they do not observe it.
More:
PS:
If you should wonder how the judgment of God can find expression in the rape of a young boy, I can only compliment your sensitivity. A person who cannot be troubled by that has lost his humanity. The judgment is rather on parents and a culture that in self-complacency, ignorance and indifference have left its children to take care of themselves in a dangerous world.
…………………………..
What Mubarak is referring to here is his lauding Muslims *raping children*. Here he is, blaming Infidels–including the child’s father–for his coreligionists raping a child:
“Germany: Muslim migrant sexually assaults 6-year-old boy in changing room”
Mubarak says
May 12, 2016 at 5:33 am
If the West was more careful with its own moral hygiene and e.g. stopped the war on boys and masculinity (Christina Hoff Sommers), it wouldn’t be so susceptible to these opportunistic Islamic infections.
The wrestling event in Munich was probably an American and feminist inspired, inter-gender wrestling event, where no distinction is made between boys and girls, so how could the refugee from Afghanistan tell the difference?
Not that an “interference” with a girl would be that much better, but it would assert
some higher degree of normality although misdirected and criminal. –
Why did the father leave his son alone in the cabin, by the way —? A symbolic picture of the incident and of father-son relations these days.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/germany-muslim-migrant-sexually-assaults-6-year-old-boy-in-changing-room#comment-1433792
*Lots* more ugliness from Mubarak on that thread–including his claim that little children deserve to be raped because of mixed-gender youth wrestling.
He has excused and even championed Muslims raping little children elsewhere, as well.
Notice that above he blames Western parents and culture–nowhere does he have a word of criticism for the *actual rapists*–nor has he ever done so.
Mubarak says
We also have the enigmatic Stockholm syndrome, Ted.
abad says
Very simple, really.
Karen Armstrong is a Christophobe.
carol says
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned “oil money”. I’d heard that years ago. Has it been debunked or are we just on our good behavior here?
Jay Boo says
Off Topic
I would like to take a moment to offer my condolences and to cheer up new Muslim CONVERTS caught in Muhammad’s CAGE
Hello new Muslim convert,
Your POINT SCORE is down.
So Sad
Do you remember back when the imam told you that becoming a Muslim was the best decision you will ever make? Remember how you felt so extra special? Your fellow Muslims even had a kind smile and helped you learn to pray. Do you remember?
But, something has changed. Now, you feel that you can never measure up. Why is that? Why do other Muslims manage to score extra points with Allah at your expense? Surely, they are not gossiping about you behind your back, Muslims are much too sinister for that. All they do is imply with the slow poison of insinuation.
Islam is all about carpet kissing and accumulation of — piety points.
(At your expense).
.
Jay Boo says
Memories
Jay Boo says
After skimming the link below, Karen Armstrong seems to be saying that (religions) in general are not to be faulted for much of the violence attributed. Despite this seeming friendly equivalence between religions in relation to accountability to violence, Karen seems to repeatedly avoid Islam and Muslims directly by name. Not so when see discusses The Crusades. It is as if she is pretending to be generous to ALL religions while in reality the TOKEN religions other than Islam are only there to veil her obvious pandering to Islam in particular.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/-sp-karen-armstrong-religious-violence-myth-secular
carol says
Armstrong seems to have a lot of Jesuit connections. Maybe the Pope is her mentor? She’s even has a teaching gig at Georgetown.
Found an article by Robert Spencer from 2011:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/03/karen-armstrong-islam-came-to-spread-compassion-among-the-nations-of-the-world
citycat says
A phobia is an irrational fear of something, not of the unknown.
The unknown is not something.
Saying a phobia is fear of the unknown is to infer that if one becomes familiar with Islam then the phobia will disappear.
She spews twisted truth in the name of Islam.
Karen Armstrong, like Merkel, Clinton and May, give women a bad name, via their stupidity or is it really traitorous bull.
Or are they enraptured by the lure of the other.
Politics is a man’s game. Are there male traitors behind these women?
It’s a rare woman that can lead.
It gets worse- dignity is being worthy of respect, it’s not a human right.
Liars liars liars.
The values of Islam can go back to Hell from whence they came.
Islam has put the refugees where they are.
The refugees, as innocent or not as they are, are made into weapons of war.
gravenimage says
Karen Armstrong, Vali Nasr hit West on Atlantic Council “Islamophobia” panel
……………………………
Karen Armstrong has been whitewashing Islam for years now.
And here’s Vali Nasr, ludicrously claiming that ISIS’s motivations are not Islamic:
http://hub.jhu.edu/2015/11/18/paris-attacks-isis-vali-nasr/
Dacritic says
Vuslat Doğan Sabancı… dismissed any legitimate concerns about Islamic doctrine by stating that “Islamophobia…stems from phobia, which is a fear of the unknown.”
Er…
When I did not know Islam, I didn’t fear it. Now that I’ve come to know Islam, I fear it a lot.
Mubarak says
“Knowing therefore the terror/fear of the Lord, we persuade men”, the apostle Paul wrote – “And yet I will show you the most excellent way”, he wrote before that.
In the replacement theology of Islam it is rendered: we know that only terror persuades men, and that that is the excellent way. —
The Ummah is association by intimidation, but unfortunately the islamophobia of Muslims is a seldom developed subject.
ECAW says
This is what historians think of Armstrong’s work on the Crusades:
https://apholt.com/2016/06/01/crusade-historians-and-karen-armstrong/
Ted Tyler says
ECAW, Thanks for the information and the link. It looks like Dr. Andrew Holt has totally destroyed the mythology propagated by Karen Anderson.
Linde Barrera says
To ECAW- Thank you so much for that valuable link from Prof. Holt and his accurate information on the Crusades. I call info like that “a touchstone text.” Stay well ECAW.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that link, ECAW. Fine article.
Pumbar says
I think Karen misheard mohammed’s endorsement of dromedary discharge.
She thought he said, “look like a camel and take the piss”.
Cretius says
“phobia, n. an abnormal or morbid fear or aversion.” Concise Oxford Dictionary
Quoting from Islamic religious texts, quoting Imams and reporting acts of violence committed by Muslims in the name of their religion is not an abnormal act. It is in fact educational about the realities of Islam and it’s impact on Western civilisation.
Islamophobia is the term used to try and shut down valid and factual comment on Islam. The term is a misleading lie.
Islam is not a race so you cannot in fact be a racist when discussing Islam.
“bigot, n. an obstinate and intolerant believer in a religion, political theory etc”, COD (Islam on both counts!)
So much for those using false definitions to suppress free speech.
Florida Jim says
Taqiyya prevents any muslim being taken seriously.When an entire religion has in their doctrine”we can lie as needed” it is a weak religion, isn’t it? Muslims are like Hillary, Obama and Reid you can;t trust liars whatever they say may be a lie.
Ted Tyler says
Florida, Brigitte Gabriel has a really great 16 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXBTgAxhIw that gives a quick history of the 1400 years of Islam. She shows how lying to the enemy is allowed if that lying advances Islam.
gravenimage says
Great video.
Lorenz Stransky says
“Islamophobia…stems from phobia, which is a fear of the unknown.”
Ignorance may breed fear, but familiarity breeds contempt.
I am in the latter group.
davej says
Fear of the unknown might be a phobia, fear of the known is common sense. In the case of Islam – the more you know it the more you fear it (and hate it if you do have common sense).
I have a fear of crocodiles. But there are no crocodiles anywhere near where I live, does that make it a phobia? What if crocodiles move in, start reproducing and begin taking out innocent victims? Am I guilty of crocophobia?
Zammana says
Turkish “journalist” states: “Islamophobia…stems from phobia, which is a fear of the unknown.”
So I have Arachnophobi – fear of spiders – because I DON’T know them? No, I don’t like putting my hands in places where spiders are likely to be because I DO know them.
(Can I get one of those handicapped plates to go with my Islamophobia?)
Just ’cause you’re phobic, doesn’t mean no one is out to get you.
ron says
poor girl thinks if she feeds the crocodile it will eat her last.
Jacinte says
A phobia is generally an irrational fear. Well when we know the truth about all the terrorist attacks in the West over 28,000 muslim terrorist attacks, that’s not irrational, it’s a FACT and it speaks for itself. People like Karen Armstrong do not realize that what she promotes are values that are contrary to freedom of speech. Doesnt she value the fact that she can speak? If Karen wants to really show the example of what she is promoting, there is only one thing she can do which is to shut up. That’s what she is promoting. Women are half a citizen in muslim countries.
Yorkshire Kufir says
That conference looks like its rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic