The doctrine of Islam is as stupid & nasty, in actual practice, as is the doctrine of xian-based religions.

I agree .How can any logical individual not criticize the archaic,moronic and vile doctrine of Islam .

You are challenging the CLAIM that criticizing Islam is racist, or comparably immoral.

I suspect that this claim is being marketed by Saudi Arabia and by similar Islamic entities. Religions do act on their own behalf. Distributing a false claim like this seeks to disarm opponents of the religion.

Two examples of successful silencing of critics were the dis-inviting of Dawkins and Maher to lecture at Berkeley. Indeed, other atheist and scientific speakers have often received their sharpest criticism when they criticized Islam. The shouting down of critics of Islam has effective reduced the volume of outrage over Islam-inspired atrocities as they have occurred around the world.

Indeed, certain Christian-inspired critics have used false testimony and innuendo of scandals to bring down atheists, as I believe is the case for both Lawrence Krauss and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Fortunately, Tyson has been mostly unscathed so far.

Christopher Hitchens recorded a number of YouTube videos discussing the demerits of Islam. Hitchens attacks are interesting, clear and unambiguous, and he often makes the distinction defining precisely why criticizing Islam isn't racist, but rather that Islam deserves all the criticism it gets.

Islam is no different than any other religion.
They're all fake, they're all dangerous, and they're all evil.
Islam is just currently the most violent.
Christianity has been just as violent and bloody. Sometimes, even moreso.
I'm not about to defend islam, or any other religion, to anyone.

Criticizing the doctrine of Islam does not NECESSARILY mean the person doing so is a xenophobe, islamophobe, or hates all Muslins. But you have to admit that many critics of the doctrine of Islam do so out of xenophobia, islamophobia, and hate. And that some feel with permission to act out on their xenophobia, islamophobia, and hate because of the rhetoric of their commander in chief.

Criticizing the doctrine of Christianity does not mean the person doing so is a xenophobe, christophobe, or hates all Christians.

Nerp
You good

Besides a book written by a hallucinating orphaned war monger is not basis for a religion.

The only people who will try to change your mind are people who are pro religion, or those who think Islam is a race and therefore the criticism is racist.

Islam is not a race and I am an atheist.

No need to change your mind.

Islam: Spread by the sword since 630 AD. We are in the middle of a world war. And way too many lefters are helping the enemies of reason change what we all hold dear: free speech, freedom for all, freedom from religion,...

As Hitchens said, "All religions are wrong in the same was. But islam is the worst because it claims to be the last religion, coming from the last prophet, the TOTAL solution for everything."

And you will be killed if you do not agree, or try to get away.

Islam is the worst of cults as there are nearly 1.8 billion muslims, most completely oppressed by themselves, and way too many still spreading the word through violence, demanding special rights and privileges.

Criticizing the doctrine of Islam does mean the person doing so is a xenophobe,Islamophobe, and hates all Muslims.

Did I change your mind?

Muslims are as much victims of the cruel, totalitarian Islam ideology as are the "infidels". They need to be helped and encouraged to accept evidence and embrace reason instead of "faith".

All religions are bullshit, made up bullshit.

All religions are nothing more than fantasy and myth and needs to be criticized.

Islam is evil!

I'm unlikely to want to change a mind that has come up with sound reasoning for the issue at hand.

@tbarrack90
As an Antitheist - I criticize religions across the board.

But that doesn't mean that I revile an individual for having a belief system I don't follow. (You need to know a lot about how and why they practice their religion before you start making judgments based on that).

One thing doesn't prove the second.

I don’t really think enough people from White Anglo-Celtic ethnicity have paid enough attention to Islam to be able to comment

When I was a security guard I often got good tips and sometimes even some food. The group that was doing this was Muslim. The man always paid his camping fee and told me to keep the extra as my tip. He was a nice man. He and his family were very polite.

I urge my fellow "true" agnostic's not to respond to posts which are clearly provocative and inflammatory, silence is the best response in these cases!

I think it's a matter of perspective, the specific critique and not limited to just the doctrine of Islam.

I can see two very different scenarios, regardless of religious affiliation.

Person A: Has a whole host of negative opinions in relation to people of a religion and feels strong emotions in expressing those opinions, usually by criticizing the intelligence, ethics, morality or arbitrary behavior or costume of those who believe in the doctrine of the religion (i.e. "Look how stupid that religious costume is. Why would anyone wear that just because a book told them too?", "How stupid do you have to be to accept a story about every animal in the world fitting on a boat?" ) By refusing to see them as individuals, each of which will create their beliefs and act not only as the doctrine proscribes but with their own intelligence and experience as a buffer.

The second would be valid critique of the results of the religious doctrine on society at large from an objective POV that doesn't reflect general critique of those who follow the doctrine (i.e. "How can someone justify restricting someone else's rights based on their personal view of their religious doctrine?", "Why doesn't the religious doctrine outlaw slavery?" )

There are probably a lot of other scenarios that I haven't considered, but the point is that nuance matters in these situations as implications and inferences don't always match.

Same ole story, jus' a different face. Any criticism of any religion is considered malicious.

Crititicizing Isreal over a policy they are pursuing doesnt make one a xenophobe, antisemite, or necessarily racist.

The problem lies in what your motivation for criticizing and that's hard to prove. It takes context, knowledge of the persons previous arguments, and character.

Just like the problem we are having making racism, xenophobia, and white nationalism against Donald Trump stick. With him it's actually easier to make this case as he has made a practice of these type of statements in public. He has business practices that he has been indicted and tried for discrimination, etc.

But it's difficult to make the case stick because his supporters insist your not in his mind. Even though there is ample evidence to establish the paradigm for Trump.

Why would I want to change your mind?

This is a loaded and dishonest post.

The problem is that so many xenophobes, Islamophobes, and people who hate Muslims do simply hide behind the banner of, "I'm just criticizing the doctrine!"

All religions are equally false and fictional. I refuse to be co-opted into one side or the other of the religious war. I'm against all of them, because they're all (with a few honorable exceptions) against me.