Pakistani activist murdered after praising London for electing first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan

[oberliner]

110. Republicans aren't monolithic either

We don't really spend too much time seeking to understand why Republicans believe the things that they believe, or what circumstances guided them to some of the more anti-progressive viewpoints that many Republicans hold.

And there are no Republicans (presumably) posting on this board, yet we feel comfortable speaking critically here of Republicans and Republicanism, in spite of the fact that there are millions of Republicans who are perfectly nice people (and we aren't really giving Republicans an opportunity to defend themselves on this board).

This is not intended to suggest that Muslims are like Republicans, merely that the philosophy of Islam ought to be subject to the same sort of scrutiny as the philosophy of Republicanism (or conservatism) without one being labelled an Islamophobe for doing so.

Philosophies ought to be subject to criticism, even if those philosophies are religions. The fact that this is considered off-limits for fear of causing offense is dangerous. We ought to be able to say the same things about Islam or Judaism or Christianity that we feel free to say about Scientology or Mormonism or even Republicanism.