"Islamophobia"

[TaraJo]

Islamophobia is a tricky thing. If you define it as an unreasonable fear of a group of people, yes, it's undoubtedly out there. You see it pop up every time you hear about some group of politicians specifically outlaw sharia law. You saw it when Faux News was pitching a fit over the Islamic community center a few blocks away from the 9/11 site. I've seen it when people treat others like garbage solely over their religion. There are some women at my school who, judging from the hijab they wear, are Muslim and they seem to be intelligent, rational, friendly people and, yet, I've seen them deal with real hatred for that simple scarf.

That being said, I still thing Islam is factually incorrect. I also realize that there's a lot of violence and hatred done in the name of Islam. Talking about those things isn't islamophobia. If anything, think that the thing we can do to help them more than anything is to talk about it. That violence and hatred stems from a lack of financial opportunity in the area and a lack of education. People with money have something to lose and therefore want to discourage violence. People with education tend to reject religion, too, and I think the area would benefit from that as well. Given those conditions, if Christianity were the dominant religion in a region that lacks money or education, Christianity would be a savage, brutal religious belief that spreads hate, too; look at the evolution of the religious right here in America if you want to see it starting to happen.