# Any Signs of Long-Predicted Anti-Muslim "Backlash"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090 "2009-12-30T20:52:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/61 "2010-01-01T08:47:32Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Well, as for \*my \*part of _we_, I’m taking Christianity’s viewpoint as an objective fact because it is an objective fact. Cite? I’m sorry, but one ancient Middle-Eastern fairytale is pretty much as reliable as another to me. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/62 "2010-01-01T08:53:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > This thread is about potential backlash against Muslims because of terrorist acts committed by them and in the name of Islam. You can argue that it is not a function of the religion until the cows come home and it won’t change the reality that there are groups of Muslims dedicated to blowing infidels to hell with random terrorist attacks. Christians are more than willing to let you to get there on your own dime. No, the Christians send over missiles and bombs because they have more powerful militaries. A bunch of Islamic people kill about 3000 people; America ( a nation that makes a fetish about how Christian it is ) kills about 100,000 mostly Islamic innocent people in return. Proclaiming its moral superiority all the while. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/63 "2010-01-01T09:02:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, the Christians send over missiles and bombs because they have more powerful militaries. A bunch of Islamic people kill about 3000 people; America ( a nation that makes a fetish about how Christian it is ) kills about 100,000 mostly Islamic innocent people in return. Proclaiming its moral superiority all the while. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/64 "2010-01-01T12:50:52Z")
Quick primer about Islamic/Quranic teaching about Jesus- I don’t have time to look up cites. Jesus is not God/Allah or The Son of God/Allah- the idea is idolatrous & blasphemous. Jesus is a prophet of Allah, born of the Virgin Mary (especially created in the womb of Mary as Adam was created from the dust of the earth). He can be called “the Word of Allah” or a “Spirit of Allah”. He lived a blameless life. He is the Messiah, rejected by the Jews & idolized by the Christians. He did not die on the cross, but his enemies were deceived to think he did. He was taken to Allah, will return at the Last Day to rebuke & judge the Christians who idolize him and the Jews who reject him, and he share in the governing of the Kingdom of Allah. There is a debate in Islam as to whether the Quran says he was not crucified at all, crucified but not dies, or even crucified but not permanently died. The first two interpretations deny the Death & Resurrection, but instead teach the Assumption of Jesus. The last option allows for both. There is a sect which claims that he survived the Crucifixion to continue a mortal life & is now buried in Kashimir. I don’t know how that sect is regarded by most Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/65 "2010-01-01T16:28:15Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Bull fucking shit. Fred Phelps is one funeral away from getting torn limb from limb just for running his mouth. The day he tries anything stupid is the day he meets Jesus without a reservation. > > The few modern terrorist events in the US that are linked to a Christian religion revolve around abortion doctors and those I can count on one hand. It’s borderline to even call those terrorist acts because they were directed at specific individuals (yes you can make the case that they are designed to frighten off people in the same profession). > > This thread is about potential backlash against Muslims because of terrorist acts committed by them and in the name of Islam. You can argue that it is not a function of the religion until the cows come home and it won’t change the reality that there are groups of Muslims dedicated to blowing infidels to hell with random terrorist attacks. Christians are more than willing to let you to get there on your own dime. I take it you weren’t paying attention to the news coming out of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. As am eye-witness to that period in Balkan history, allow me to attest that there are plenty of Christians more than willing to help you get to your afterlife on their dinar. However, to be fair to the Serbs and Montenegrins, all sides, Christian and Muslim, were organized military killers, the Serbs and Montenegrins just got organized faster and got their hands on the military grade hardware faster. 9/11 made Islam the new bogey man for the right wing. It filled the vacuum for a villian that had been vacant since the collapse of Soviet Communism, so in that sense there has defintely been a backlash at least in rhetoric. Before 9/11 the Christian conservatives had a sort of quasi-admiration for the muslim states especially the Saudi’s because it showed how well religion could be used to dominate a society (not to mention they stoned homosexuals stripped women of their rights, banned alcohol, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/66 "2010-01-01T17:05:52Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Not unless the requirement to travel to Mecca is a joke. Err… there are ~1.57 billion Muslims out there. The yearly turnover for the Hajj is around 3 million. So, you’re right, they all meet up once a year, give or take just shy of 5 times the total population of the United States’. Statistically insignificant error margin, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/67 "2010-01-01T23:57:33Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I take it you weren’t paying attention to the news coming out of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. As am eye-witness to that period in Balkan history, allow me to attest that there are plenty of Christians more than willing to help you get to your afterlife on their dinar. However, to be fair to the Serbs and Montenegrins, all sides, Christian and Muslim, were organized military killers, the Serbs and Montenegrins just got organized faster and got their hands on the military grade hardware faster. 9/11 made Islam the new bogey man for the right wing. It filled the vacuum for a villian that had been vacant since the collapse of Soviet Communism, so in that sense there has defintely been a backlash at least in rhetoric. Before 9/11 the Christian conservatives had a sort of quasi-admiration for the muslim states especially the Saudi’s because it showed how well religion could be used to dominate a society (not to mention they stoned homosexuals stripped women of their rights, banned alcohol, etc.). You’re analogy that it was a religious based war (driven by a perception of God’s will) is wrong. It was a cultural war. But if you’re going to infer religion as the generator of the Serbian/Montegegrin conflict then you have to acknowledge religion was used to solve the problem. In other words, if you see the conflict as Christians killing Muslims then it was Christians who intervened and stopped other Christians. This is in contrast to the problems in Iraq where you have Muslims killing Muslims in an ideological/religious civil war with external religious/political influences. But getting back to your example of the Serbian conflict and how it relates to the topic, Christians in the United States have a demonstrated political will to intervene against religious intolerance in spite of what has transpired. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/68 "2010-01-01T23:59:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Err… there are ~1.57 billion Muslims out there. The yearly turnover for the Hajj is around 3 million. So, you’re right, they all meet up once a year, give or take just shy of 5 times the total population of the United States’. Statistically insignificant error margin, to be sure. It’s a metaphor that represents a common bond. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/69 "2010-01-02T00:35:00Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > But getting back to your example of the Serbian conflict and how it relates to the topic, Christians in the United States have a demonstrated political will to intervene against religious intolerance in spite of what has transpired. No, they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/70 "2010-01-02T00:41:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > But getting back to your example of the Serbian conflict and how it relates to the topic, Christians in the United States have a demonstrated political will to intervene against religious intolerance in spite of what has transpired. I notice that the more publicly loud Christian party, the Republicans, vociferously objected to the Yugoslavian intervention… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/71 "2010-01-02T00:42:46Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It’s a metaphor that represents a common bond. What does that even mean? Lots of Christians go to church on certain days–is that a metaphor for Christians all coming together in some nefarious way? Threads like this depress me so much. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/72 "2010-01-02T00:55:51Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You’re analogy that it was a religious based war (driven by a perception of God’s will) is wrong. It was a cultural war. But if you’re going to infer religion as the generator of the Serbian/Montegegrin conflict then you have to acknowledge religion was used to solve the problem. In other words, if you see the conflict as Christians killing Muslims then it was Christians who intervened and stopped other Christians. This is in contrast to the problems in Iraq where you have Muslims killing Muslims in an ideological/religious civil war with external religious/political influences. > > But getting back to your example of the Serbian conflict and how it relates to the topic, Christians in the United States have a demonstrated political will to intervene against religious intolerance in spite of what has transpired. Religion and culture are often amount to the same thing. In fact which group someone belonged to as defined by what was their concept of “god” was often the only perceivable difference between many Muslims and Christians in the Balkans especially in the paramiliatary bands (i.e., members of both sides drank, stole and raped and why they did it was explained in religious terms of the enemy deserved it for not worshipping god the right way). I base my perceptions on why many people were fighting on what I observed which included plenty of Eastern Christians more than willing to kill the “Turks” and plenty of priests willing to bless their AK-47 and tell them they were doing “god’s” will. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/73 "2010-01-02T01:13:50Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > What does that even mean? Lots of Christians go to church on certain days–is that a metaphor for Christians all coming together in some nefarious way? > > Threads like this depress me so much. What it means is that, despite the differing sects of Islam, there is a common denominator found in the 5th pillar. The terrorist by-product of Islam is not limited to a single sect but is often focused on Western culture. Pretending it doesn’t exist is pointless. As for your depression, you should look at the lack of Islamic backlash as a good thing. That is the question of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/74 "2010-01-02T01:16:08Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > No, they don’t. There was nothing to be gained (for the US) by crushing Serbia. There is not an Anti-Muslim backlash in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/75 "2010-01-02T01:23:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > As for your depression, you should look at the lack of Islamic backlash as a good thing. That is the question of this thread. I’ve seen examples of backlash on my own, and the drivel that most people spout about Islam is, IMHO, yet another example of it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/76 "2010-01-02T01:24:39Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > But getting back to your example of the Serbian conflict and how it relates to the topic, Christians in the United States have a demonstrated political will to intervene against religious intolerance in spite of what has transpired. :rolleyes: Please. They support religious intolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/77 "2010-01-02T01:33:26Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > There was nothing to be gained (for the US) by crushing Serbia. There is not an Anti-Muslim backlash in the United States. The US didn’t crush Serbia. We didn’t send troops until after the war was over. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/78 "2010-01-02T01:51:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > :rolleyes: Please. They support religious intolerance. Cite? Where’s the backlash? There was worldwide protests and rioting in the streets from a political cartoon depicting Mohammad but Christianity is routinely made fun of in prime time shows. South Park and Family Guy have raised it into a separate art form. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/79 "2010-01-02T01:56:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The US didn’t crush Serbia. We didn’t send troops until after the war was over. Actually, you sent tons of bombs without which what was then the former Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) would have probably wiped the Muslim Bosnian state off the map. The United States really did save a lot of people from doing very rotten things to each other in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090/80 "2010-01-02T01:59:23Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The US didn’t crush Serbia. We didn’t send troops until after the war was over. Uh huh. That doesn’t even qualify as a bad attempt at spin. We attacked Serbian infrastructure and political/military institutions until their President was removed and tried in court. How is this an argument of any kind in response to my thread showing how religion, as viewed as a political theme, showed the interdiction of US forces in a conflict that had no political connections? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-signs-of-long-predicted-anti-muslim-backlash/523090.md?page=5)