A Conversation with a Leftist Activist

A conversation with a Leftist activist

cropped-Christianity-Islam-Judaism.pngAAABTonto: This is an article by Robert Spencer that he posted at Jihad Watch, I thought you all might enjoy …

Recently a man named Richard Potter, who describes himself as a “social worker and activist” and is a contributor to Your Middle East, began writing me rude messages on Twitter. We ended up having a long exchange about debating, and ultimately he sent me a long email explaining why he thought my work was “belittling” to Muslims.

Since I think Potter’s beliefs and assumptions about my work are commonly held, at least among Leftists and Islamic supremacists, and since views such as his are obviously mainstream given the British banning and other cancellations of my talks, I thought I’d present Potter’s letter here with my answers interspersed, by way of explaining why I do what I do. Note that this is not a back-and-forth, but my responses to his many particular points in one long email. (Potter’s spelling and grammar are unaltered from his original email.)

Potter: Your attacks on Islam are belittling and hurtful to Muslims in the same ways that attacks on the bible, Catholicism, and Christianity are belittling to their believers.

Spencer: So you think that Christopher Hitchens’ attacks on Christianity are just as bad as my writings? Do you think there is any place for criticism of a religion, or do you think that religions should be off-limits to criticism? I am a Christian myself and don’t think that attacks on the Bible or the faith are in the least belittling as such — in fact, I welcome them. If one’s faith can’t withstand critics and criticism, then I am not sure it is worth holding.

Potter: I could very easily point out the correlation between violence against Homosexuals in America and Christianity, especially because it is supported by scripture.

Spencer: Could you really? Could you point me to a case where someone attacked a homosexual and quoted scripture to justify it? I can give you 1000 cases (and more) where Muslims killed someone and quoted Qur’an to justify it. Is it wrong to point out that they do that? Is it belittling? And if you come back and say, “No, but you tar all Muslims with responsibility and guilt for such instances,” I would ask you to provide even one example where I’ve actually done that.

Potter: I could point out that the Catholic Churches belief in the limit to err within it’s own hierarchy and scriptural supported belief to handle matters internally has led to an epidemic of pedophilia and child abuse,

Spencer: You could make a case for that. Are you saying that it would be inherently wrong or belittling to do so? Or are you saying that because a case can be made against the Catholic Church, one should not make any case against Islam?

Potter: I could point out that the scriptural support that it is good and justifiable to own slaves lent itself all too easily to centuries of it in the United States, and it still continues in parts of the Global South today with similar justifications.

Continue reading …

Western Denial Sets a Dangerous Precedent


TOMMY ROBINSON EDL ON NEAR FM JULY 2ND 2013

Opinion by AAABTonto:

As you listen to the above interview you will hear the interviewer repeatedly try interject his own preconceptions of Islam as fact, when it is quite clear to me that this person is utterly ignorant of Islam. He claims that there is no evidence” that the Qur’an promotes violence, when the it clearly does. Late in the interview he is critical of Tommy Robinson for inviting Pamella Geller to the UK to speak because she is “hostile” to Islam. How is it that a critical analysis of Islam is “aggressive” or “derogatory” towards Muslims?

It is not …

Sahih al-Bukhari 6922 Allah’s Messenger said, “If anyone changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

Qur’an 5:51O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.

Qur’an 9:29Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Qur’an 4:24Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess.

… But there is no evidence that the Qur’an promotes violence. Of course there isn’t—if you didn’t read the Qur’an to begin with!

This “politically correct” lens that those in the main stream media (MSM) and on the progressive left of the spectrum force everyone to view the world through is the very reason that we can’t convince those same people of reality. It is true that there are a few sects of Islam that renounce violence and have a “live and let live” philosophy, but they are the exception and they are criticized and persecuted by the other more orthodox Muslims. So what is Islam?


What Is Islam?

Is there any likelihood that those of us who know the difference between critical analysis and slander will ever convince the MSM to realize their folly and change their ways? I don’t think so … they will simply have to replaced and they are—by people like me and you who value truth and the miracle of life.

Warning the following is very graphic:

“Put yourself in my shoes”: BBC runs puff piece lauding Syrian jihadi cannibal

“Face-to-face with Abu Sakkar, Syria’s ‘heart-eating cannibal,'” by Paul Wood for BBC News, July 5–why do these journalists have to twist themselves into pretzels in order to find a way to legitimize this kind of savagery? What is the need to “understand” the motive of a group of people who have sworn violence, demonstrated violence and pledged to subjugate everyone in the world to Islam?

Islam will dominate the world 2

Examine the following video. We are provided with a textbook example of Muhammad’s teachings. Egyptian Muslims take notice a Christian girl and begin to yell “Nasara!” (Christians). They then proceed to tear the girl’s clothes off, while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” The cameraman is then pushed out of the way and we don’t see what happened to the unfortunate girl:


غتصاب مسيحيات في وضح النهار وسط صيحات التكبير

Day after day for decades now we have watched as the terrorists have waged a holy war against the West and blamed us for its results. Simultaneously, the progressive elements of western society have proclaimed that poverty and inequality are reasons for their hostility towards us and it is we who must reach out to Islam and demonstrate our good faith. Well, we’ve done that in the form of billions of dollars in foreign aid that is then used to fund more terrorist activities. That, in my opinion, proves that the progressive’s perverse presumption is 100% incorrect—devout Muslims are going to attack us (the nonbelievers) because their doctrine commands them to do so. It is that damn simple!

Sudan: Islamic leader calls for decisive action against converts from Islam to Christianity

Brothers MuslimAs previously stated, I have no animus toward Muslims; but, if they are unwilling to accept others whose beliefs differ from their own and they find it just to commit violence upon them simply for that reason, then what respect do we owe them? How is possible to reason or find compromise with them? We cannot expect them to cease their persecution of us simply because we find a way to make neurotic excuses for their abhorrent behavior.

John Stuart Mill“The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”
– John Stuart Mill