In Europe, Britain leads the way in religious tolerance. But that could easily change – and prejudice seems to grow by the day.
“All Muslims out of the UK!” This was the welcome note that greeted my brother, sticky-taped to the front door of his new home in south-east London. It is just one among many incidents that take place across the country daily, some of which are reported to the Tell Mama (Measuring Anti Muslim Attacks) project. In June it received notice of 56 instances of anti-Muslim prejudice, both online and offline – a noticeable spike that was caused, they believe, by the Rotherham abuse scandal.
Tell Mama has recorded more than 2,040 reports of religious hatred since its inception in 2012, including arson attacks on mosques and violence towards Muslim women.
[TOP RATED COMMENT 958 votes] No they shouldn't be obliged to make their position clear. But then no one else is then obliged to believe that there isn't a high degree of tacit support either.
Muslims are absolutely entitled to not make their position clear on these or any other matters. And other people are absolutely entitled to draw their owm conclusions
[SECOND 696v] "But expecting Muslims to constantly be engaged in a rhetoric of apology is absurd."
No, we're not expecting constant engagement, just the bare minimum of engagement. Please edit your article to remove your accusation of this expectation being a form of "Islamophobia'' - that is an extremely offensive statement.
''integration is not the issue here. It is bigotry and prejudice''
??? Bigotry and prejudice can only occur as a lack of integration. The Muslim community can begin the integration process by embracing one of the key values that Britishness has at its core: freedom of speech. It is unthinkable to me that you would expect integration to come from one direction only, and this is the problem people have.
You say: ''it makes no sense to expect Muslims to apologise for crimes they played no part in''. Of course not. But if you identify as Muslim and British and Isis is comprised of Muslims who have a problem with the British, don't you think you would be very well-placed, not to apologise for the crimes, but to act as a mouthpiece for your fellow British citizens?
'' I still firmly believe Britain is leading the way in Europe in its religious tolerance and inclusivity''
Disingenuous ending as you very, very clearly don't.
[THIRD 644v] The notion that Muslims should feel some form of collective guilt....
In a poll shortly after the horrendous London terror attacks of 7/7, 25% of young Muslims expressed support for the terrorists.
If I were a devotee of the same religion as ISIL, who commit such barbaric attacks on innocents, I would be doing everything in my power to condemn them and dissociate myself from them.
Why the silence?
[FOURTH 584v] It's pretty easy though. All they have to say is ''this is wrong, we are firmly against this''. Why so silent?
[FIFTH 484v] Yes you should. You define yourself by your religion, so if people are claiming they are killing people to further the cause of that religion, you need to step up and say they are not. That's not the same as accepting responsibility for what other Muslims are doing.
If you consider yourself part of society, you should stand up and defend your society.
Look at what happens when people don't take a stance against racism, homophobia and poverty. [Guardian Cif] Read more
