Those openly critical of Islam are sometimes dubiously slurred as racists, regardless of what their true views on race may be.

In fact, Islam is not a race. Islam has nothing at all to do with genetics. It is an ideology – a set of beliefs about individual behavior and the rules of society.

Neither are Muslims a race of people. In fact, there are Muslims of all races.

Therefore criticizing Islam is not racism. There is no such thing as "anti-Muslim racism" any more than it makes sense to pretend that there is "anti-Christian racism," "anti-Methodist racism," or "anti-Capitalist racism."

So why would anyone claim differently?

It is because the battle over Islam is being fought in the West, the only arena in which this religion can still be critically debated. It is also here that repugnance toward racism is strong and nearly universal. As politicians well know, if one can successfully paint the opposition as “racist,” then the battle for public opinion is all but decided. From high-risk mortgages to illegal immigration, fear of the race card is one of the strongest influences on public policy.

At the same time, it is nearly impossible to defend Islam in its own right - which is why Muslim societies usually rely on threat of violence to suppress intellectual critique of Islam and the freedom of other religion to fairly compete. According to its own texts, Islam was founded in terror, and its political and social code is deeply incompatible with Western liberal values. Frustrated advocates of Islam’s advance are therefore prone to taking the crude and easy path of trying to squash debate by mislabeling criticism of their religion as racism.

Text credit: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Racism-TROP.htm

Video credit: http://www.youtube.com/user/MartinJWillett

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