# Why are people uncomfortable attacking muslim fundies like they would christian fundies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665 "2012-09-14T06:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/61 "2012-09-16T05:38:57Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Will you teach your son to be very careful about what he says online about the Prophet Mohammed, because there is a non-negligible chance that someone reading the same message boards will take offense and vow to kill your son? Yeah, suuure there is. **Mosier** is an American going by his location of Vegas; the chances of him or his son being killed by a Muslim for any reason is miniscule. Far smaller than his chance of being killed by a Christian. And you and others who supposedly think the evil Muslim assassin horde is just waiting to crawl in people’s windows and kill them for expressing criticism of Islam sure don’t hesitate to slam Islam yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/62 "2012-09-16T06:33:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And you and others who supposedly think the evil Muslim assassin horde is just waiting to crawl in people’s windows and kill them for expressing criticism of Islam sure don’t hesitate to slam Islam yourselves. Depends on the criticism: someone simply posting “Islam is teh suxx0r!!!” probably doesn’t have as much to worry about as someone posting a satirical cartoon of the prophet. Or, gods forbid, writing a book that applies the same textual criticism to the Koran that has been applied to the Bible. It’s not about criticism, per se, it’s about offending peoples’ religious honor and their sense of the profane. I think it’s very, very unlikely that anyone in Nevada would be killed by a Christian _for that particular reason_. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/63 "2012-09-16T06:40:51Z")
Missed edit window: Even the vile idiots who have killed abortion clinic doctors don’t seem to be have done so to in order to defend Christianity as an institution or the honor of their Savior, but instead out of a misguided belief that they are “saving lives.” ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/64 "2012-09-16T06:48:37Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > My son probably won’t have to deal with suicide bombers. > > I’m not saying Muslims are harmless, I’m just saying that I’m dealing with the devil I know and encounter almost every day. Granted. Families who lost loved ones on 9/11, or in the Afghanistan war, would probably feel a little differently about Islamic extremists, though, wouldn’t you agree? ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/65 "2012-09-16T07:01:17Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Depends on the criticism: someone simply posting “Islam is teh suxx0r!!!” probably doesn’t have as much to worry about as someone posting a satirical cartoon of the prophet. Or, gods forbid, writing a book that applies the same textual criticism to the Koran that has been applied to the Bible. > > It’s not about criticism, per se, it’s about offending peoples’ religious honor and their sense of the profane. I think it’s very, very unlikely that anyone in Nevada would be killed by a Christian _for that particular reason_. But it’s more likely than them being killed by a Muslim. For _any_ reason, not just over religion. > [@Koxinga](#): > > Even the vile idiots who have killed abortion clinic doctors don’t seem to be have done so to in order to defend Christianity as an institution or the honor of their Savior, but instead out of a misguided belief that they are “saving lives.” I’m sure that’s a great comfort to the people they’ve killed. ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/66 "2012-09-16T07:07:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yes, exactly. , > > make it really fucking hard to get an abortion > increase difficulties in getting birth control > allow pharmacists to withhold the morning after pill from legal adults > keep the birth control pill prescription only > adultery is still illegal in several states > I can only marry one man that I love at a time > a gay woman can’t even marry one other woman > liquor sales banned on Sundays or during specific hours > prevent schools from teaching comprehensive sex ed and reproductive health > waste minutes of educational time every day with prayer in schools > Creationism taught in science classes > > It’s so pervasive that, like the mythical frog boiling in water, you may not even notice it. But all of these things are very directly because of (some) Christians in our country influencing laws to make non-Christians act more like Christians. > > Do you have any similar examples of Muslim people influencing their US lawmakers to pass laws to make us act more like Muslims? I do not disagree with your points, however, most muslim women do not participate by choice in their religion. It is a fact of life. Those in more enlightened countries able to become more educated try to leave or otherwise find ways to insulate themselves from the more drastic controls. In my opinion, those things you mentioned above, are fundamentalist, not exclusive of the different flavors of same. Sharia = Bible thumping taken to the level of (unchallengeable) law. The examples I threw out were for the sake of brevity. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/67 "2012-09-16T07:20:05Z")
> [@bahimes](#): > > I do not disagree with your points, however, most muslim women do not participate by choice in their religion. How do you know that? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/68 "2012-09-16T07:51:38Z")
Well, considering a woman is most likely born into it and apostasy is considered a crime in most Muslim countries, what do you think? ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/69 "2012-09-16T08:14:25Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Well, considering a woman is most likely born into it and apostasy is considered a crime in most Muslim countries, what do you think? That like most believers she’s largely an automaton that exists to protect and preserve the religion controlling her. I see no reason to think that women are unwillingly part of the woman hating Muslim religion any more than they are unwillingly part of the woman hating Christian religion, or all the other woman hating religions out there. As a believer, her needs are going to be a distant second to those of her religion; she exists to serve it. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/70 "2012-09-16T08:58:58Z")
You’re quite the genius, criticizing someone else for characterizing a Muslim woman’s participation in her religion as not “by choice,” then turning around and saying she’s only doing it as a mindless automaton. Mindless automatons exercise choice? Also, can you point me to any locales where it is illegal to convert away from Christianity? I’m sure you can dig up some backwater in southern Sudan or some papist regime from five hundred years ago, as a devastating riposte to the daily reality of a billion or so Muslims in the here and now. Go ahead, we’ll wait. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/71 "2012-09-16T09:01:54Z")
Short answer: The Christian fundies aren’t going to drive a car bomb into your living room. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/72 "2012-09-16T09:03:38Z")
A direct example is that a few years ago I found a blog from a woman who was muslim and so hardcore she wrote about the difficulty in ridding her house of images whether photographic or artistic. Yes you read that right she believed any representation was blasphemous, she talked about cutting pictures out of her kids books and on product packaging. She said she kept some images out in the garage because she didn’t want them in the house, she felt guilty but she and her kids would go out there to look at some books. I found the whole thing laughable and nutty and kinda sad for the kids, think of how she is limiting their education. Others disagreed with me and found me “insensitive” but they have laughed at christians for far less, they loved mocking mormons and their magic underwear! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/73 "2012-09-16T10:42:45Z")
My answer: I’ve never met a muslim fundamentalist. I’ve met \*many _christian fundamentalists. It’s a matter of exposure. If muslim fundamentalists were as prevalent here in the US as their christian counterparts are, I’d be just as comfortable “attacking”_ them. \*Arguing with them isn’t really “attacking” them. Nor is insisting that they can’t pass laws to force me to obey their religious beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/74 "2012-09-16T10:56:00Z")
> [@bahimes](#): > > I do not disagree with your points, however, most muslim women do not participate by choice in their religion. It is a fact of life. Those in more enlightened countries able to become more educated try to leave or otherwise find ways to insulate themselves from the more drastic controls. That is a huge topic which I can’t figure out, to be honest. Somedays I think one thing, others another. I’m just as wary of infantilizing grown adults because of their gender (“Oh, the poor things have no choice, they’re all just ignorant oppressed victims!”) as I am blaming them for their own condition (“If they wanted to change things, they would!”) I suspect, like most things in life, that there isn’t one answer and that the truth of it for Muslim women, like for most of us, is somewhere in between. Some love Allah with all their heart and soul and honestly truly believe that wearing burka and never interacting with men outside their fathers, brothers and husband preserves their feminine power and puts them on equal-but-different footing with men, and that women who don’t agree with them should be burned with acid and stoned to death. Some would just like to wear blue jeans, drive a car and maybe eat a Big Mac once in a while, but are terrified to make a move openly and so meet in secret with other likeminded women. Some would like to learn how to read, maybe, someday, but in the meantime, the kids are hungry and it’s time to cook dinner. I don’t know. I can’t solve the world’s problems, and I really can’t even understand all the world’s problems. I have to focus a little closer to home and try to solve the problems I do understand first. I know that’s not how everyone thinks, but it’s how I can stay sane, personally. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/75 "2012-09-16T11:58:48Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Also, can you point me to any locales where it is illegal to convert away from Christianity? That’s not a religious issue, that’s a legal issue. As history demonstrates, Christian sects love to make it illegal to belong to anything but their own little version of Christianity, and have been willing to enforce that with extreme brutality. They simply don’t have the power to enforce that anymore in much of the world; that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t if they could. Islam is a religion; it is therefore destructive, the natural enemy of humanity for the same reason any plague is. Christianity is also a religion; it is therefore _also_ destructive and the enemy of humanity. Christianity is just much weaker than Islam in many of the societies it prevails in. There is little to choose from between them; magically turn the West Islamic and the Middle East Christian and there would be little change in behavior. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/76 "2012-09-16T12:13:06Z")
In my experience it’s depressingly common that discussions often start and end with people assuming all Muslims are fundamentalists or fundamentalist sympathizers, and then making broad assumptions about what should be done to them all. When you point out that it’s unfair to generalize like that, people take it as discomfort criticizing Muslim fundamentalism. That’s one part of it. Another part of it, at least for me quite frankly, is opposition to right-wing blowhards who are bugfuck insane. If Glenn Beck has a problem with Muslim fundamentalism then I have a knee-jerk reaction to cut it some slack. That’s a purely internal dialogue that I usually supress pretty quickly, recognizing that it’s irrational. But being as how some people live their entire lives on their first knee-jerk reactions, I’m sure that’s part of it for some. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/77 "2012-09-16T12:50:17Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > In my experience it’s depressingly common that discussions often start and end with people assuming all Muslims are fundamentalists or fundamentalist sympathizers, and then making broad assumptions about what should be done to them all. In large part I think because a great deal of what is going on is good old fashioned religious rivalry; the Christians want to destroy the Muslims, the Muslims want to destroy the Christians. The Christians are just less honest about it and try to excuse their desire to slaughter members of their rival religion with noble sounding speeches about defending freedom, bringing democracy to the heathens and so forth. But in the end, the result is always just a lot of dead Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/78 "2012-09-16T13:18:23Z")
It’s just political correctness. The politically left like Islam and despise Christianity. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/79 "2012-09-16T13:41:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > It’s just political correctness. The politically left like Islam and despise Christianity. What in the world makes you think the left likes Islam? And it doesn’t hate Christianity either; that’s just a right wing propaganda line with no connection to reality. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665/80 "2012-09-16T14:30:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > What in the world makes you think the left likes Islam? And it doesn’t hate Christianity either; that’s just a right wing propaganda line with no connection to reality. Lefties in the U.S. tend to be very “sensitive” toward Islam, while righties in the U.S. tend to be very pro-Christian. (I’m neither, BTW.) _Why_ this is the case would be a GD thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-uncomfortable-attacking-muslim-fundies-like-they-would-christian-fundies/634665.md?page=5)