Coquette, I agree with your views on organized religion. My question is, how can we separate our disapproval of the belief system from racism and discrimination against its believers?
It’s as easy as separating the ideas from the people. There’s a huge difference between saying “Fuck Islam” and “Fuck Muslims.”
I’ve had friends who are Egyptian, Turkish, Palestinian, Saudi, and Iranian. Some are royalty, and some are refugees. Some are devout Muslims, and some are proud to be apostates. They all have completely different backgrounds from wildly varying cultures, and all of them to some degree have experienced racism and discrimination here in America. That has nothing to do with Islam. It’s because they’re brown and have accents and America is full of bigoted assholes.
Racism and discrimination are products of in-group favoritism and othering. They’re what happens when willfully ignorant people come at the world with an “us vs them” mentality. That mindset is poisonous, especially when it’s accompanied with an attitude of “superior vs inferior.” Toss irrational fear into the mix and bad shit starts happening.
You can disagree with a person’s belief system all day long. Sometimes it’s even appropriate to call them out on their nonsense, but the second you start treating them as an “other” — as someone apart and less than you — then you’ve crossed the fucking line.
You don’t have to respect everyone’s beliefs, but you do have to respect everyone’s humanity. You have to be fucking decent.