The roots of anti-Muslim bigotry (Boston Globe)

Boston Globe ^ | April 4, 2011 | James Carroll

[reaganaut1]

... [P]ervasive negative attitudes toward Islam go far deeper into the American psyche even than these manifestations suggest, for contempt toward the religion of Mohammed is a foundational pillar of Western civilization. That it is unacknowledged only makes it more pernicious.

European Christian imagination jelled — as European, as Christian, and as imagination — around the mythic 732 triumph of Charles Martel over “infidel’’ Muslim forces in a battle near Poitiers, France. That may seem like an eternity ago and a world away, but still-powerful attitudes that show up in suspicions of widespread Muslim “radicalization’’ were generated then. In epoch-shaping chansons de geste celebrating Charles Martel, Islam was portrayed as nothing less than the anti-Christ. So resonant was its defeat, that Charles Martel was empowered as the effective founder of cohesive European social structures, with his lineage (through his grandson Charlemagne) extending even to present-day royalty.

Edward Gibbon famously shuddered at the thought that, but for Charles Martel, the Koran would be taught to the “circumcised’’ at Oxford instead of the New Testament. (It seems not to have occurred to Gibbon that, had the Poitiers battle gone the other way, Oxford, which dates to 1167, might have been founded years earlier — by, say, disciples of the great Muslim scholar Avicenna, who died in 1037.) From early on, Western civilization understood itself positively against the negative foil of Islam, a polarity that was institutionalized during the decisive centuries of the Crusades. That Christendom failed to liberate the Holy Land from infidel control only made permanent the fear and hatred of Islam.

Meanwhile, as is always true of bigotry, Europeans knew very little about actual Muslims.

[Elderberry]

I’ll bet that neither James Carroll nor anyone else on the staff of the Boston Globe ever took course on “Junkyard Dog 101” while in college.
I was working my way thru college hanging sheetrock. I was leaving the jobsite on a Friday afternoon and when I passed the 2nd floor climbing down the scaffolding, a worker said the guard dogs were already loose. I thought they were pulling my leg. I was walking through a ground floor apartment when Movement caught my eye. A German Shepherd came from behind me and came up to me and he had his game face on alright. I was frozen with a bucket of tools in each hand. I looked to see where my sheetrock hammer was and slowly turned my back to the dog and started walking. After half a dozen steps I looked over my shoulder and he was gone. Man, I never shimmied up to the 2nd floor so fast.

[Marty62]

I thought it particularly interesting that the Ottoman Empire had a policy of “capitulation” for foreigners. since the Muslims were kept ignorant and poverty stricken, (sort of a big GAZA)they needed the brain power of the foreigners to establish businesses and production.

Amazing they are actually longing for the bad ole days.

Incomprehensible.

[dangerdoc]

“They aren’t blind. The Left THINKS ISLAM AND IT are on the same side.”

As far as Christianity goes, they are.

[tbpiper]

Islam was portrayed as nothing less than the anti-Christ

And the truth still stands.

[ccmay]

That it is unacknowledged only makes it more pernicious.

What? I proudly acknowledge my poor opinion of Islam and most of its adherents.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Just a tongue in cheek description of an overly rigid Catholic attitude towards non-Catholics, circa 1964. Actually, my sophomore year world history teacher, who was a Roman Catholic cleric, was a big fan of Marin Luther. He admits that the Roman Church ultimately agreed with Luther’s major critisms and adopted most of his reforms.

[Balding_Eagle]

They may not be blind, and they may be on the same side for now, but the political Left here in American is not wise to the outcome as it would affect them.

[null and void]

Nope. They are on opposite sides, attacking the middle.

[SkyPilot]

Islam kills.

Liberals reading the Boston Globe won't understand that until they are being beaten by Muslim thugs on Commonwealth Drive, Beacon Hill is on fire, and women running around Cambridge are forced to were head scarves.

Christians being murdered around the globe is OK by them, because they are not Christians - and anyway - those Christians always make them feel uncomfortable, with all this talk about sin, hell, Christ, heaven, and judgment. Muslims hate Christians, right? So....works for them. For now.

Americans in general have been given the luxury of sitting on the fence for generations, never having to confront this type of evil. They have basked in the glow of a nation built by Christian values and the blessings of the Almighty, while never having to commit to God (the real one).

Islam won't allow them that luxury. Submit, or be tortured and killed.

[Fantasywriter]

To be honest, I never really liked pinging him while he was here. The concept of ‘moral equivalence’ was something he simply could not grasp. He genuinely couldn’t see any difference between Christianity and Islam. All he saw were some extremists in both camps that gave their religion a bad name. I told him till I was blue in the face that the extremists were the ‘good Muslims’: i.e.: the only ones truly obeying the koran and emulating their ‘prophet’. It was water off a duck’s back.

Liberalism is a crime and a shame. It atrophies the mind, and flat out eliminates critical rational thought. I always hoped Jamese would see the light. He never did.

[null and void]

Marin Luther.

The famous theologian who lives just north of San Fransisco?

[PigRigger]

"He admits that the Roman Church ultimately agreed with Luther’s major critisms and adopted most of his reforms."

That is what confused me by that comment....I've attended many Catholic and Lutheran services....and much of what I hear is pretty much the same...I guess that shouldn't be surprising given that Luther was a Cathlic monk....

My assumption was that you were going to state that the Evangelicals have become much more liberal in their interpetations of the articles of faith....

I should admit...I am a Lutheran, Missouri Synod...a conservative based sect...and I for one have become very concerned where the Church is moving...it appears PC and liberalism may one day, if not already, lead many astray from the basic points of faith that were communicated by Luther after his review of the Bible......

[null and void]

He won't. Ever. I am quite familiar with him, thankyouverymuch...

[Seruzawa]

If Bubba’s canine security associates were placed inside the apartment of James Carroll and a loaded shotgun placed in James’ hands, he would probably forget his membership in PETA and his lifelong belief the “violence never solves anything”!

Or we'd have one less moocher riding the wagon instead of pulling it. Win-Win.

[Peet]

The Boston GLOBE is more for obeying the New York Times’s
agendae than for reporting the News.

The word “agenda” is plural. Turning it in to a feminine plural just looks weird...

[denydenydeny]

I had to fight through the rest if it after early on he puts the word “radicalization” in quotation marks, as if the idea of Islamic radicalization was something dreamed up by Islam’s enemies.

He insists that Islam spread so quickly not because of violence and conquest brcause of the unifying principle of “oneness.” But all you have to do is look at the history of India to see that’s a lie.

If any nation should have been eager to embrace Islam, it should have been India with its caste system. But India turned out to be Islam’s fiercest opponent in Asia, taking over a thousand years to conquer fully. The Muslim conquest of India (”the bloodiest story in history” per Will Durant) accomplished very little. The vast majority of the Hindu population rejected it completely. And as soon as there was an alternate power available (the British Empire) the Indians affiliated with it far more readily than they ever did with the various Emirs and Nabobs and Shahs who tortured and murdered and enslaved their way through the subcontinent for a millennium. India today is a testament to the absolute resistance to and rejection of Islam, while its rump Muslim regions, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are disasters where no one wants to live.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***And a ‘phobia’ is an irrational fear. Given what happened on 9/11, the term ‘Islamphobia’ is completely meaningless.***

I like this term from another FReeper.

IslamoMISIA. - Revulsion of islam.

[Charlespg]

Good one here

joedryan wrote: Just because something reaches the status of religion, (Scientology, anyone?), doesn't mean it can't be garbage. Thankfully, at least in the US, while people have the right to practice any religion,

we also have the freedom of speech to call a spade, a spade. The roots of any so-called anti-Muslim bigotry lie in the horrific social and cultural norms of many Muslim societies, period.

[Charlespg]

Good one here

joedryan wrote: Just because something reaches the status of religion, (Scientology, anyone?), doesn't mean it can't be garbage. Thankfully, at least in the US, while people have the right to practice any religion,

we also have the freedom of speech to call a spade, a spade. The roots of any so-called anti-Muslim bigotry lie in the horrific social and cultural norms of many Muslim societies, period.

[denydenydeny]

Stop. He’s recounting something that was told to him 45 years ago, not stating as a personal belief. Don’t hijack the thread.