First of all, I want to preface this by saying I believe that everyone has the fundamental right to worship as they please, but your way, is not the only way. There are many paths to God, and as long as we all do our best to be harmless and good, we will all eventually reach the top of that mountain wherein sits the throne of God. And even though I believe that organized religion has been the root cause of most of the world’s troubles, throughout the centuries, I will defend your right to practice whatever religion you choose. However, as a defender of freedom of speech, I also reserve the right to criticize any religion I deem worthy of criticism, which brings me to the following:

Islamophobia... a word that has been bantered about in recent years. What exactly does Islamaphobia mean? In its literal sense it means- fear (phobia) of Islam (the religion). And given the propensity towards violence- all the multitude of suicide bombings throughout the world over the past decades (too numerous to mention) not only targeting westerners but other Muslims-no wonder many fear Islam.

However, the term Islamaphobia has taken on a different connotation, and is now considered a form of racism, which in itself is ludicrous considering Muslims are not a race, they are a religious group. And what I find most interesting is the breathtaking hypocrisy of those who denounce people who criticize their religion as Islamaphobic. Those self-same critics are the first to vilify and hurl nasty epithets at adherents of other religious groups.

They feel free to call Jews pigs and apes, and Jesus the slave of Allah, and yet no-one categorizes them as Christianophobics or Judeophobics.

It’s your typical double standards- I can criticize you, but God forbid you criticize me. Well, I have as much right to criticize certain aspects of the Islamic religion as I do certain aspects of the Judeo-Christian, Hindu or Buddhist religion, if I choose to, without being called a racist or hate-monger, or inciting some fatwa or other.

No religion is perfect, including Islam, and most deserve criticism in some form or another, so I will continue to criticize where I see fit. This does not mean I am a racist or anti this or that, nor does it mean I am calling for the death of all the followers of that particular religion. It simply means I do not agree with certain doctrines within your religion, which is firmly within my rights.

Peace out.