Ontario Passes Anti-Islamophobia Bill
February 24, 2017 at 8:45 pm
(This post was last modified: February 24, 2017 at 8:55 pm by MTL.)
The Ontario Legislature has unanimously passed a bill condemning Islamophobia:
Unanimous Support for Anti-Islamophobia Motion at Queen's Park
I will readily admit that I am out of my depth with legal matters.
But I need to get something off my chest.
The fact that the term "Islamophobia" has been made synonymous with racism has troubled me from the get-go.
Personally, as someone whose position is one of Anti-Theism, it is troubling to me on multiple levels.
I oppose all religion. I have no real trouble with Deism, per se,
but I personally find all forms of dogma to be problematic as they pass off an unproven idea as "truth"
and even in a dogma that is fairly innocuous in its letter, this still seems a potentially dangerous and damaging practice in principle,
...and I certainly think some dogmas are more noxious in their letter, and in their interpretation and their practice,
than others...the Abrahamic religions foremost among them....Christianity and Islam more than Judaism,
and Islam arguably more than Christianity (though not by much).
(I also note that unlike Islam and Christianity, Judaism is also a "ethno-religious" group;
you are pretty much either born Jewish or you are not; they don't seek to "convert" the way Islam and Christianity do,
and it is that drive to RECRUIT that I find to be ONE of the more noxious elements of ANY religion)
I will also add that I HATED Christianity, the religion I was raised in,
LONG BEFORE I even knew that any other religion even existed.
Anyway, it makes me crazy that so many of Trump's supporters, many of whom are rabid self-professed Christians,
are so obviously Islamophobic, and fail refuse to see their staggering hypocrisy.
IMO, this seems to give substantial fuel to the argument that Islamophobia is largely another word for Racism.
But, as someone whose perspective is Anti-Theism, it is repugnant to me that I cannot criticize the dogma
without being accused of racism, BECAUSE people think I am one of those racist, white, Islamophobic Christians,
when I, a white middle-class Canadian woman of anti-theistic views,
have FAR more respect (to give just one example)
for an Arab who is an Apostate (Muslim) living in an Islamic country,
(where his Apostasy could cost him his life)
than I do for many of the most middling, well-meaning, white, english-speaking North American Christians.
Here's something that is also a bit crazy-making, for me:
Many "anti-LGBT" people have objected to being termed "homophobic"
saying that a Phobia is an "irrational fear of something"
and that they are not "afraid of" the LGBT community,
rather they finds homosexuality objectionable because they deem it unnatural or ungodly;
but all the arguments I've heard made, opposing LGBT rights are laughable and entirely without merit;
Homophobia IS a phobia...a fear, perhaps not of gay people,
but more likely their own latent homosexuality...ludicrously dressed up as something legitimate.
But I AM afraid of Islam. I'm afraid of ALL religion.
And, unlike Homophobia, it is not without reason; it is not "an irrational fear".
There is a mountain of highly-demonstrable facts that support my entirely rational fear of Religion.
And here's the really crazy part:
I am confident that many of these supposedly "liberal-minded" people, supporting this "Anti-Islamophobia" bill
are, themselves, quietly homophobic....and their reason is, in many cases, due to their religion.
Just wanted to get this off my chest.
Unanimous Support for Anti-Islamophobia Motion at Queen's Park
I will readily admit that I am out of my depth with legal matters.
But I need to get something off my chest.
The fact that the term "Islamophobia" has been made synonymous with racism has troubled me from the get-go.
Personally, as someone whose position is one of Anti-Theism, it is troubling to me on multiple levels.
I oppose all religion. I have no real trouble with Deism, per se,
but I personally find all forms of dogma to be problematic as they pass off an unproven idea as "truth"
and even in a dogma that is fairly innocuous in its letter, this still seems a potentially dangerous and damaging practice in principle,
...and I certainly think some dogmas are more noxious in their letter, and in their interpretation and their practice,
than others...the Abrahamic religions foremost among them....Christianity and Islam more than Judaism,
and Islam arguably more than Christianity (though not by much).
(I also note that unlike Islam and Christianity, Judaism is also a "ethno-religious" group;
you are pretty much either born Jewish or you are not; they don't seek to "convert" the way Islam and Christianity do,
and it is that drive to RECRUIT that I find to be ONE of the more noxious elements of ANY religion)
I will also add that I HATED Christianity, the religion I was raised in,
LONG BEFORE I even knew that any other religion even existed.
Anyway, it makes me crazy that so many of Trump's supporters, many of whom are rabid self-professed Christians,
are so obviously Islamophobic, and fail refuse to see their staggering hypocrisy.
IMO, this seems to give substantial fuel to the argument that Islamophobia is largely another word for Racism.
But, as someone whose perspective is Anti-Theism, it is repugnant to me that I cannot criticize the dogma
without being accused of racism, BECAUSE people think I am one of those racist, white, Islamophobic Christians,
when I, a white middle-class Canadian woman of anti-theistic views,
have FAR more respect (to give just one example)
for an Arab who is an Apostate (Muslim) living in an Islamic country,
(where his Apostasy could cost him his life)
than I do for many of the most middling, well-meaning, white, english-speaking North American Christians.
Here's something that is also a bit crazy-making, for me:
Many "anti-LGBT" people have objected to being termed "homophobic"
saying that a Phobia is an "irrational fear of something"
and that they are not "afraid of" the LGBT community,
rather they finds homosexuality objectionable because they deem it unnatural or ungodly;
but all the arguments I've heard made, opposing LGBT rights are laughable and entirely without merit;
Homophobia IS a phobia...a fear, perhaps not of gay people,
but more likely their own latent homosexuality...ludicrously dressed up as something legitimate.
But I AM afraid of Islam. I'm afraid of ALL religion.
And, unlike Homophobia, it is not without reason; it is not "an irrational fear".
There is a mountain of highly-demonstrable facts that support my entirely rational fear of Religion.
And here's the really crazy part:
I am confident that many of these supposedly "liberal-minded" people, supporting this "Anti-Islamophobia" bill
are, themselves, quietly homophobic....and their reason is, in many cases, due to their religion.
Just wanted to get this off my chest.
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