Halal Meat...

...the availability of halal meat is not a secret plot to impose Sharia law. My Muslim friends who do not insist on eating halal meat nevertheless tell me that it tastes better.

http://www.newsy.com/videos/meat-myths-of-halal-hysteria-debunked/

More About Hijabs...

Good video with this article from the LA Times: Click Here.

From across the pond, a Muslim woman wins a Bake Off and faces abuse. Click Here.

And just to provoke a little thought, in this picture from the Rio Olympics, which of these women is oppressed by men? (Hint: It could be either, neither, or both).

 

What Aaron Told Me

A Canadian reporter recounts his interviews with the ISIS sympathizer killed by police in an apparent attempt at a suicide bombing.

Read it here.

Fears About Syrian Refugees

"ISIS will come for our women”. That’s how one resident expressed his fears about the proposed settling of refugees in the US state of Montana.

Around 100 refugees could be moving to the American West thanks to a local group in Missoula who were inspired to help after seeing the photo of a drowned Syrian boy whose family had fled the conflict.

But people in the neighbouring rural county are not happy. A local politician told the BBC they want a guarantee refugees will not be a threat - and he warned of a culture clash between any Muslim refugees from Syria and the predominantly white local population.

Watch the video here.

Saudi Wahabism

This article in the New York Times takes interesting look at the conservative Islam of Saudi Arabia.

Why Muslims are the World's Fastest-Growing Religious Group

In a nutshell: birthrates.

Click here to see the statistics.

Men in Hijabs

The hijab is the most visible and, perhaps, controversial symbol of a Muslim woman's faith. A sign of Qur'anically mandated modesty, the hijab is seen by some women as liberating. By others it is seen as oppressive. I've posted quite a few articles and videos about the hijab in this blog. (Here, and here for example).  I've posted a link to a video about non-Muslim women experiencing life as hijabis for a day. But this is something new. Iranian men wearing hijabs in solidarity with women who are required by the government to wear the covering.

The Ideas Behind ISIS

This is an important article from the Atlantic Council. It examines the ideology that underlies the terrorist group called ISIS.

Muslim Refugees Convert to Christianity

Interesting article here.

Don't miss the video here.

The United States of Islamophobia.

Good article from foreignpolicy.com

Here's a quote to get you started:

A study released last year by consulting firm 416Labs showed that over 25 years of coverage and headlines, the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in the New York Times was more negative than cancer, alcohol, and cocaine. The study found there are no positive words in the top 25 associations with Islam and Muslims, and only 8 percent of headlines about those subjects carried a positive connotation. Cancer fared better at 17 percent.

Extremism

Business Insider has a good article detailing the methods Daesh (ISIS) uses to recruit converts online. It references this article from the New York Times, which tells the story of Alex, a young American woman recruited by Daesh. Both are worth reading.

Follow a link from the Business Insider page to read "A Course in the Art of Recruiting" a manual developed by Al-Qaeda and apparently used by Daesh.

On the subject of extremism, this report from the Carnegie Endowment is a must read.

Christian Ramadan Drummer

I love these interfaith stories...

American Mosques are Actually a Great Deterrent Against Violent Extremism

Politicians and Islamphobes tell us that American mosques are breeding grounds for radicalism. This article from Huffpo says "not so much."

Pull quote:

A 2012 CUNY Law School report, “Mapping Muslims: NYPD Spying And Its Impact On American Muslims,” found that “surveillance of Muslims’ quotidian activities has created a pervasive climate of fear and suspicion, encroaching upon every aspect of individual and community life.”

“Surveillance has chilled constitutionally protected rights—curtailing religious practice, censoring speech and stunting political organizing,” the report said. The surveillance also “severed the trust that should exist between the police department and the communities it is charged with protecting.”

Funding Islamophobia

The Fear, Inc. website has been around for a while.

A more recent article from the Guardian tells the report released by CAIR and University of California, Berkeley, on how Islamophobia is promoted by some deep-pocketed donors.

Click here to go to the University of California, Berkeley website where you can download a pdf file of the entire report.

Not All Muslims are Alike...

Attempts to humanize Muslims may have the opposite effect. From the article:

Is there really something wrong, however, with bearded, camel-riding, falafel-loving, alcohol-shunning, conservative Muslims who meet their fully veiled wives through arranged marriages and who passionately campaign against the U.S. government’s crimes? Of course not, but these videos unwittingly imply that there is something to dislike, if not fear, about them. They also marginalize the many Muslims around the world who identify with these “bad” qualities.

Read the whole thing here.

Orlando

This week brought another horrible mass shooting, this time at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The killer has been identified as a Muslim.

The New York Times story, with videos, can be found here.

Since the event there have been reports that the killer, though nominally Muslim, was in fact not religious. Although he claimed allegiance to ISIS (and, apparently, other, competing Islamic terrorist groups) his motivation seems to have been complex. He was violent, homophobic, possibly conflicted about his own sexuality.

See the Time magazine story, with more video, here.

In response, there have been interfaith expressions of sympathy and condolences for the victims' families, not the least from Muslims.

Another story with video, this one from Huffpo.

Of course there are some religious folk who use the incident as an opportunity to peddle hate in God's name.

Like this sicko. I wonder where he was radicalized.

The Southern Baptist Convention's response seems torn between sympathy and legalism...

I don't necessarily agree with the spin of this story, but the facts can be found in it nonetheless.

But many, perhaps most responses from religious groups have been supportive.

Read what happened when an Orthodox Jewish Congregation went to a gay bar.

Where Were They Radicalized?

Huffpo has an op-ed piece about a hate group in Texas. The article raises my new favorite questions when learning of any religious extremist: Where were they Radicalized?

Ramadan in Finland

Islam's month-long fast presents special challenges (and requires some compromises) in a land where the sun never sets...

Cultural Advisers (sic) in Hollywood

Hollywood's depictions of Muslims feed Islamophobic stereotypes. According to an article in the Deseret News that may be changing.

May. Be.

Islamophobia: What would you do?

This has been around a while. In 2010 John Quinones did an episode of "What Would You Do?" dealing with Islamophobia in a Texas bakery.

Recently, it happened, unstaged, in an Ice Cream Parlor in Orange, California...

Check out this link.