He is right about “Islamophobia” in general, as well as about the left’s inconsistency in welcoming and praising criticism of Christianity while smearing and deplatforming those who criticize Islam.
“Richard Dawkins: Islamophobia ‘a Deeply Silly and Pernicious Abuse of Language,’” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, September 13, 2023:
Celebrated atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has denounced the use of “Islamophobia” as a perversion of language to escape rational argument.
“Islamophobia is a deeply silly and pernicious abuse of language, and is not the only fashionable word ending in -phobia that condemns itself as a last-resort substitute for rational discussion,” Dawkins posted on Twitter late Tuesday, in reference to “homophobia,” “transphobia,” and other phobias du jour.
“If your belief is indefensible, your ignominious last resort is to accuse your critics of ‘phobia,’” Dawkins says in a YouTube video posted earlier this week.
And yet, phobia “is defined as irrational fear, as in arachnophobia, agoraphobia etc.,” he states.
Dawkins notes that curiously, while most of his attacks on religion have been against Christianity, he has never been accused of “Christophobia,” and yet he is “regularly berated for Islamophobia.”
He even had a radio broadcast in California about a totally unrelated subject canceled “because of my reputation for Islamophobia,” but he was canceled “not by Muslims but by American so-called liberals.”…
“I am not Islamophobic,” Dawkins declares, and yet if we “temporarily redefine ‘phobic’ not as irrational fear but as rational detestation, then I am phobic about the following,” before going on to enumerate practices like stoning women accused of adultery, female genital mutilation, killing cartoonists, or the death penalty for apostasy.
“What is especially galling is those Western ‘liberals’ who think Islam is a race, and are so terrified of being thought racist that they refrain from criticising the above horrors,” he concludes.
Michael Copeland says
“Islamophobia” is a silencing device.
James Lincoln says
Perfectly stated, Michael.
The Istanbulian says
Right up there with killing of apostates
puzzled says
Don’t forget the “Jefferson curran” is not a real curran written in the muslim script.
All muslims who swear to uphold the Constitution on this “curran”, are not really swearing to uphold the freedoms in the Constitution.
The muslim must uphold the curran.
Please never forget the many “fatwhas” issued against humanity by the islimmeys.
Sharon says
He’s smart .except for the atheist part !
The God of Israel Is Real.
Believe in His SON +
somehistory says
Agreed.
mg says
I believe in G-d, I don’t believe in his son. There is a fine youtube video of Dawkins and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of britain, doing an hour long or so, discussion of issues and it is well worth viewing.
somehistory says
Has dawkins mocked the Jews as he has Christians?
To me, I see atheists as the Psalmist wrote, “Foolish is the one who says in his heart, there is no God.”
And I try not to listen to foolish people. But, thanks for the suggestion.
mgoldberg says
Watch the video. He tries to but is challenged by Rabbi Sacks. Otherwise it is quite a civil discussion. It is Rabbi Sacks who I think shines the light on what religion does and can do and should do and Dawkins who winds up reluctantly holding forth with his atheistics case.
Ole Pederson says
“Foolish is the one who says in his heart, there is no God.”
Yes, that is what the scripture says.
However, most atheists — in particular Mr. Dawkins — use their brain instead!
PRCS says
somehistory, who believes, with no proof that any god has ever existed, “sees” atheists as fools for NOT believing.
And, do note:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully
– RICHARD DAWKINS
somehistory says
Ole Pederson
Yes, his brain is just as “foolish” as his heart. As were carl sagan and stephen hawiking.
Hawking had one of the stupidest “reasons’ ever verbalized for not believng in a God.
He said we didn’t need God because the “laws” made everything possible.
Laws do not make themselves and they don’t “create” anything. Laws are written by others and the Laws to which hawking referred, were “written” by God.
marc says
Yes MG, excellent…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ad3rVRdgbI
somehistory says
I found the video, thanks to the link Marc provided. I listened to the parts where Lord Sachs spoke and esp liked the part where he explained the command to Abraham to take Isaac up on the mountain, thinking he was to sacrifice his only son by Sarah. Beautiful explanation of “why” and what was to be learned from that.
It’s reminding of the Psalms where children are “gifts” from God, but He holds us responsible for the welfare of *our* children, who truly still belong to Him.
When Sacks was reading from dawkins’ book, the camera focused on the atheist and his face clearly showed his inner…arrogant…self.
Thank you for recommending it.
PRCS says
To seal your case, Sharon, you need only PROVE that any god has ever existed.
No, belief is NOT proof.
mg says
No it isn’t…. and Dawkins comments about the ‘Old Testament G-d is rather insipid in terms of hard dollars and cents, in depth analysis of said Torah. Do take a listen and look at Dawkins and Rabbi Sacks, who was a genuinely gifted intellectual as well as a deeply religious man deal with such as that comment throughout the discussion.
KoshsShadow says
I will just point out that every attempt to have people decide who is worthy and who is not ends up with something worse than when we let G-d decide. Not that everything is so great, but when we have the central control where people decide who is worthy and who is not, we do not get a “workers’ Heaven” but a Hell on Earth.
All this gets to one of my favorite phrases, that the search for a workable system of redistribution of wealth is the search for the Philosophers’ Stone of Political Alchemy, trying to turn people’s better instincts into gold. It works as well as the alchemists’ methods, which is to say, it does not work.
Wellington says
Ditto for other deceptive terms like “homophobia” and “transophobia.”
Disagree with a totalitarian, whether of the Far Right (e.g., Muslims) or of the Far Left (e.g., modern Western Leftists) and you will be characterized as some kind of hater. It’s a way of shutting down debate, open discourse, and which every totalitarian simply cannot stand, will not stand.
All the idiotic defenses of Islam, the entire transsexual rot, the continual effort to disallow ANY criticism of same-sex relations, et al. are rooted in disallowing any opposition voice, in effect in totalitarian-think.
Methinks all these rubes doth protest too much—and this is partial evidence (but only partial) of just how wrong they are. But, unfortunately, as of present these warped people are winning because a huge silent majority have been suckered, intimidated, cancelled, forced, etc. into silence.
somehistory says
Very well stated, Wellington. True to your form.
Rufolino says
You bet !
Pray Hard says
Can always rely on Richard to tell it like it is.
KoshsShadow says
I can understand why many people don’t like “Islamophobia” but have no problem with “Christianophobia” or “Judaismophobia”. After all, Christians and Jews don’t blow you up if you disagree with them.
As for leftists, especially gays, it shows leftism is a self-destructive cult, and the Islam they support is the Kool-Aid.
somehistory says
The man with the gun tells the bank employee to keep quiet.
The man with the knife tells the frightened woman to not scream.
Guns and knives are easily recognized as weapons and the result of the order to keep silent is no one else knows a crime is being committed.
The same with the phobia nonsense. It’s a weapon and its use is to make people keep silent about the crime so others are unaware.
Doctors are committing crimes on children by the use of poisons and scalpels. Perverts taking part in marches to show, what should be private, to little kids are committing the crime of “indecent exposure.”
Teachers showing photos, videos, reading certain books and talking about crt, trans garbage, are committing the crime of scaring little kids into thinking what are truly lies.
and mozlums commit terrible crimes on a daily basis, threaten to commit terrible crimes daily, and then don’t want anyone to speak of the horrors they commit, even against their family members.
Reminds me of the “Sounds of Silence.” Keep the people in darkness by the use of words that cause fright; and fear of being dismissed by the ‘in crowd.”
KoshsShadow says
Sound of Silence? How about a modernized version of Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song? (The original was about Vikings)
All-ah, ah!
All-ah, ah!
We come from the land of the Holy Quran
From the desert sun, where the Jihadis all plan
The jihad for our god
We’ll drive your planes to your lands
We’re the horde; you’ll cry and cry
Oh, Allah, we are coming!
On we sweep with exploding bomb
Our only goal will be the dar-el-harb
All-ah, ah!
All-ah, ah!
We come from the land of the Holy Quran
From the desert sun, where the Jihadis all plan
How soft you infidels seem
We’ll show you lots of gore
Of how we bring the tides of war
We are your overlords
On we sweep with exploding bomb
Our only goal will be the dar-el-harb
So now you’d better stop and wail at all your ruins
For peace of Allah will win the day; infidels all are losing
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
Alena says
I am singing, irresistible
KoshsShadow says
Thank you!
somehistory says
the Simon and Garfunkel song fits what is happening. I never listened to led z.
Samer says
One day, a leftist accused me of Islamophobia, then asked me why I was afraid of Islam? My response was the following: Thank you very much for your compliment. The term Islamophobia refers to people who have a sense of responsibility in that they do not want to turn developed countries into failed countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt or other Islamic countries.
KoshsShadow says
Or have major buildings destroyed by jihadis.
John Pepple says
Well, he or she is just another leftist who doesn’t remember or know about how Muslims treated leftists in Iran back in 1979. Thousands of leftists were massacred, but here in the West, leftists prefer to side with the murderers rather than those leftists who were murdered.
James Lincoln says
Samer,
The next time that someone calls me an “islamophobe”, I’ll take your advice and thank them for the compliment.
Time for a little bit of reverse psychology.
PRCS says
Depends on the definition of Islamophobia:
Irrational fear of an inanimate ideology, or of the human beings who act it out?
James Lincoln says
PRCS,
I was thinking more along the lines of Robert Spencer’s brilliant “Confessions of an Islamophobe”.
PRCS says
I was thinking of the word phobia.
James Lincoln says
PRCS,
Yes, a phobia is irrational fear.
The term “islamophobia” is nonsensical because fear of an inanimate ideology is irrational.
Fear of people who carry out the ideology, i.e. muslims, is rational, however.
That all being said, the term islamophobia is so ingrained, it may be useful to embrace the term – and use reverse psychology against our enemies.
But I could be wrong…
Atul kumar says
a lesson in semantics.
phobia not just irrational fear of something or somebody,but also connotes rational detestation.
islam itself suffers from phobias of everything except islam…worse,they are afraid of women.
Mhasa Amini did no wrong by talking truth about the regime. Rushdie lost an eye similarly.
tim gallagher says
The Koran calls on Muslims to murder the hated non-believers, which huge numbers of Muslims have done throughout islam’s blood soaked history. So it is certainly not some kind of irrational phobia to fear or hate murderous islam. islam’s murdered victims throughout its rotten history are around 270 million so it perfectly rational and sensible to hate and to fear such a murderously violent religious ideology. This term, islamophobia, is complete bullshit and Dawkins is spot on. The idiotic term aims to shut down necessary investigation of the nature of islam and shut down debate.
Michael Copeland says
Allah’s repeated objective in the Korean is to strike terror into the hearts of non`Muslims. Muslims are commanded to generate fear of Islam.
tim gallagher says
No doubt about it, Michael, islam is a vicious hate-filled religious ideology which I see as being down on the same level, morally, as Nazism, since they share the same level of insane hatred. As you mention, it has always aimed at terrorising people who are not already a member of the evil religion. Those idiots who tell us islam is peaceful obviously know absolutely nothing about islam’s nature.
libertyORdeath says
Don’t tell liberals about the horrors of Islam, you’re gonna break their brains!
Hudders. says
Pah! What else would you expect fom this God hating, so called ‘scientist?’
That islamic sword will fall as easily on his neck, if those he appeases got their way.
-Surely he is clever enough to understand that!?
I have some language for you Dawkins; but it’s not pernicious.
But in the interests of decency I won’t use it here.
So i’ll just settle for the words…. DUMB BLIND FOOL.
Jayell1 says
It’s difficult to decide whether or not this stupid response is some kind of joke or if ‘Hudders’ really is yet another severely intellectually-challenged muslim trying to be intelligent, but the fact that this person resorts to juvenile personal abuse rather than a sensible argument against Mr. Dawkins’ point that the term ‘islamophobia’ is so very obviously yet one more example of muslims plagiarising other people’s ideas (in this case, the fashionable ‘phobia’ suffix) to try and sell their heap of clearly bogus ideological excreta, rather suggests the latter. By the way, that reference to the ‘islamic sword’ is priceless; if this comment was a sendup, ‘Hudders’ would surely have followed that with some kind of mention of islam as the ‘religion of peace/love/mercy’ or some other inanely inappropriate platitude – but maybe a muslim would have done that anyway since it’s usually impossible to register such a blatant contradiction when one is thick as three short planks.
Alena says
Befitting reply, liked it.
Jayell1 says
Why, thank you, Alena! I always try my best.
somehistory says
Hudders is not a mozlum.
And “juvenile personal abuse” is found in the response you made to him.
Woody Woodpecker says
I have a problem with the combination of ‘silly’ and ‘pernicious’. There is nothing silly about some pernicious thing, I’d say. Calling the use of islamophobia silly condones it to a certain extent.
somehistory says
+100
John Pepple says
After 9/11, I thought that Dawkins’ views were those of every liberal and leftist. It was a huge shock realizing that almost none of them thought that way.
OLD GUY says
Islamophobia – pure and simple propaganda from islam to restrain criticism and open discussions about islam through taking away the freedom of speech.
FYI says
Contrary views should be welcomed and so cancelling atheists is wrong and a violation of their free speech.
It is your business if you dislike religion and you should have free expression to say or believe it.
The muslims use the fraudulent ‘islamophobia’ canard and the Leftists use the emotive ‘stop the hate’ nonsense,both tricks to silence people:so an opposing opinion now qualifies as ‘hate speech’
It makes me laugh when I see all those suspiciously well fed socialists and the new communists out with their red flags{most of whom likely have well paid NGO jobs} and their ‘stop the HATE’ placards protesting against ordinary folk who are concerned about mass ILLEGAL immigration…folk who will of course be called ‘far right; by the corrupt leftist biased media.Hate?Where is the Hate leftists?
FYI says
If you are an atheist and dislike religion you are not a bigot.
If you are a concerned citizen and protest illegal immigration you are not ‘far right’
If you think open borders are lunacy or you are patriotic you are not a nazi
Yet these are the terms Leftists and the Leftist corrupted media use.
{I have friends who once were Leftists:how funny for them to be confronted by those ‘stop the Hate’ placards at say,a rally.in favor of dealing with homelessness.What hate?Where is the hate in having an opposing view?}