„Natürlich gibt es Menschen, die Araber, Somalier und andere Einwanderer aus muslimisch geprägten Gesellschaften aus rassistischen Gründen hassen. Aber wenn Sie diese Art von blinder Bigotterie nicht von Hass und der Besorgnis über gefährliche, spaltende und irrationale Ideen unterscheiden können – wie der Glaube an den Märtyrertod oder eine Vorstellung von männlicher „Ehre“, die die faktische Versklavung von Frauen und Mädchen mit sich bringt -, dann schaden Sie unserer öffentlichen Diskussion wirklich.
Alles, was ich jemals über den Islam gesagt habe, bezieht sich auf den Inhalt und die Folgen seiner Lehre. Und ich habe immer wieder betont, dass seine Hauptopfer unschuldige Muslime sind – vor allem Frauen und Mädchen.
So etwas wie „Islamophobie“ gibt es nicht. Dies ist ein Propagandabegriff, der den Islam vor den Kräften des Säkularismus schützen soll, indem er jede Kritik an ihm mit Rassismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit gleichsetzt.
Und er erfüllt seinen Zweck, weil Leute wie Sie darauf hereingefallen sind.“
Sam Harris
Quellennachweis:
Samuel Benjamin „Sam“ Harris (1967-), US-amerikanischer Philosoph, Neurowissenschaftler und Autor.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris
Sam Harris
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Aus einem Brief von Sam Harris an Glenn Greenwald.
original:
On 2 April 2013, Sam Harris wrote:
Glenn—
Yes, I saw the Lean piece—also absurdly unfair. The idea that “new atheism” is a cover for a racist hatred of Muslims is ridiculous (and, again, crudely defamatory). I have written an entire book attacking Christianity. And do you know what happens when I or any of my “new atheist” colleagues criticize Christians for their irrational beliefs? They say, “Of course, you feel free to attack us, but you would never have the courage to criticize Islam.” As you can see, our Christian critics follow our work about as well as you do.
Needless to say, there are people who hate Arabs, Somalis, and other immigrants from predominantly Muslim societies for racist reasons. But if you can’t distinguish that sort of blind bigotry from a hatred and concern for dangerous, divisive, and irrational ideas—like a belief in martyrdom, or a notion of male “honor” that entails the virtual enslavement of women and girls—you are doing real harm to our public conversation. Everything I have ever said about Islam refers to the content and consequences of its doctrine. And, again, I have always emphasized that its primary victims are innocent Muslims—especially women and girls.
There is no such thing as “Islamophobia.” This is a term of propaganda designed to protect Islam from the forces of secularism by conflating all criticism of it with racism and xenophobia. And it is doing its job, because people like you have been taken in by it.
Did you happen to see The Book of Mormon? Do you know how the Mormons protested this attack upon their faith? They placed ads for Mormonism in the Playbill. Imagine staging a similar production about Islam: Would it be “bizarre and wholly irrational” for Trey Parker and Matt Stone to worry that the Muslim community might have a different response?
Your treatment of these issues, and of me in this email exchange, has been remarkably disingenuous. If I had endorsed a similarly libelous attack on you and broadcast it to all my readers, you would also be annoyed. Just imagine how you would view me if I then defended my actions in the way that you have here, claiming that you are just “embarrassed” to have been found out to be the racist that you are.
Yes, I think we should publish this. It might be useful for our readers to see how difficult it is to have an honest conversation about these things, even in private.
Sam
https://www.samharris.org/blog/dear-fellow-liberal2