If we can't criticize Islam in the West, where can it be criticized?

[Minimalist]

Fuck all religions, especially those camel fucking barbarians and any idiot who kowtows to them.

[Spooky]

Eventually the internet with be the only location of "Free Speech".

And even that's a stretch of the imagination.

[Mohammed1212]

I don't think that criticizing Islam is illegal, culturally prohibited, or shameful in the west. I'm currently in a Western country. Anyhow you shouldn't pay attention to people who tell you not to do it. Criticizing may help to reform it.

[robvalue]

Yes, it's incredibly important that no idea should be above criticism, discussion and even mockery. It's one of the cornerstones of a free(ish) country in my opinion.

If an idea is sensible and/or true, it should have no trouble withstanding discussion. Even if it isn't, no one is making you abandon the idea by talking about it. If you can't even bear it being discussed or mocked, you need to grow at least one pair of balls, a spine, a backbone and some hair on your arse.

[Spooky]

I'd call that a huge red flag for any organization if criticism is the cardinal sin. I often wonder how most religions get around the stink of bullshit.

[KevinM1]

Yes, it's incredibly important that no idea should be above criticism, discussion and even mockery. It's one of the cornerstones of a free(ish) country in my opinion.

If an idea is sensible and/or true, it should have no trouble withstanding discussion. Even if it isn't, no one is making you abandon the idea by talking about it. If you can't even bear it being discussed or mocked, you need to grow at least one pair of balls, a spine, a backbone and some hair on your arse.

I was just going to post something similar.  If your ideas can't survive scrutiny on their own merits, they shouldn't be treated with kid's gloves, but rather replaced with something better.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

http://time.com/3843822/charlie-hebdo-pe...d-protest/

http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/01/145-in...venxw:53Sy 

To the section of the French population that is already marginalized, embattled, and victimized, a population that is shaped by the legacy of France's various colonial enterprises, and that contains a large percentage of devout Muslims, Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet must be seen as being intended to cause further humiliation and suffering.

Recently, 145 ''intellectual' writers signed a letter saying that PEN should not honor Charlie Hebdo for it's bravery in standing up for freedom of expression. It literally says that Islam as a belief system should not be mocked because ethnic minorities follow the religion. As if Islam deserves special tolerance

The letter is of course, utterly embarassing and PEN will continue to honor Charlie Hebdo. 

But this brings me to ask, even if we were to refrain from criticizing Islam in the West because minorities follow it, then where can it be criticized? 

Like criticizing and mocking Islam would work soooo well in a country where Muslims are the majority? Yeah, no. It's simply too hard to even criticize Islam in Muslim majority nations, let alone mock it - those who do are brutally punished, via state law. 

It's why ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali criticize Islam in the West. I'm getting sick and tired of people saying that ''Islamophobia'' phrase whenever someone criticizes Islam. If criticizing Islam should not be allowed because minorities follow it (and thus, they have some special right) - then Islam cannot be criticized anywhere in the world. 

---

You know, the Right-Wing of politics always get pissed off when Christianity is criticized. But lately, it seems to be the hardcore Left who get pissed off when Islam is criticized.

Wasn't it Marx who said religion is the ''opium of the people''?

The people who get ticked off when Islam is criticized are on the Islamists' payroll.  In free societies all ideas are open for criticism, even the idea of being a free society.  

[RobbyPants]

But this brings me to ask, even if we were to refrain from criticizing Islam in the West because minorities follow it, then where can it be criticized? 

The idea is we wait a few decades until Islam becomes the majority religion world-wide. Then we criticize it... wait, then they just have us all legally killed.

Oh well. I guess we're all screwed because some people have thin skins and can't take criticism.

[Minimalist]

[Saxmoof]

I think this is one issue where ignorance actually leads to tolerance. There are a lot of Liberals who seem to think that the Muslim world is completely fine apart from a handful of terrorists and hey, every group has a few bad apples right? so let's just lay off Islam. If they looked into it and found that the majority of Muslim countries are extremely oppressive i'm sure they'd be less tolerant

But the trouble is there's a lot of Conservatives who come to the same conclusion that the Muslim world is backwards, savage, barbaric or whatever other racially loaded word you want to throw in there without the facts who are just assuming that's the case because they have brown skin and worship a different god. This is what leads to all criticism of Islam being conflated with prejudice