Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

It’s not just the Express

Unlike Kate 'n' Gerry, Muslims targeted by the Express in general rather than as individuals can't sue - no worries about that letter from Carter-Ruck or Schillings landing on the newsdesk. So recent days have seen a flurry of anti-Muslim stories. Here's just a selection.

MORE ATTENDING MOSQUES THAN MASS BY 2020

MOSQUES in England and Wales will have more regular worshippers than Catholic churches in 12 years, a new report has shown. At the last count there were only 1.6million Muslims living in Britain, compared to 41million Christians, but experts believe they are more likely to practice their faith than Roman Catholics.

It's 'practise' you illiterate fool. And why compare Muslims with just Catholics - in order to skew the figures? Is that why they said 'mass' rather than 'church'?

The new statistics are published next month by think-tank Christian Research.

Oh, well if a 'think-tank' says anything then we should just slavishly repeat exactly what they say without checking the data. Heaven forbid we might actually challenge what these jokers come up with; we are only journalists, after all.

The comments are predictable, but worth reading:

CLOSE DOWN ALL MOSQUES.......
26.03.08, 12:52am
...until we can freely and without fear attend Christian, Jewish and other places of worship in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and all the other Hell Holes in the Middle East.
• Posted by: Robertocarlo • Report Comment

I think the point is that this is a relatively free society, Saudi Arabia isn't. Would you prefer it if this society became less free? And I don't think Sudan is in the Middle East, is it, but otherwise a perfectly valid point, Robertocarlo.

MOSQUES IN THE ASCENDANCY?
26.03.08, 12:45am
I despair.
I am concerned that we are allowing foreigners to take over our country. Why do we keep voting for governments that sell out our country to foreigners?
• Posted by: Peter_Pan • Report Comment

It's perfectly normal, in Express Comments Land, to think that Muslims are 'foreigners' even if they were born and brought up in Britain. That's a totally acceptable viewpoint to have on this website. And many more will come to agree with it by the end of the day.

Also, there's an Express follow-up on the Sun's ridiculous kite-flying story of yesterday where they got Omar Bakri to slag off Amir Khan. The usual nutjobs have been let loose, of course, many not realising that Bakri is in exile in Lebanon rather than in Britain - something the Express wasn't entirely explicit about.

SICK MOFO
25.03.08, 8:05am
Ah another moderator Muslim preacher. Khan used half Pakistani and half Union flag remember. He wasn't born in Pakistan but still puts his relgion first so this cleric is just another example of the brainwashed religion
• Posted by: Fable • Report Comment

A SIN TO WEAR THE UNION FLAG ?
25.03.08, 8:01am
Then go home radical cleric. Where you may worship Allah without the union flag to your hearts delight !
Much good it will do you !
• Posted by: abuela • Report Comment

AND THE NUT WANT MUSLIM CLERICS IN OUR SCHOOLS
25.03.08, 4:58pm
This just about sums up the reasons why NUT are NUTs along with these radical Muslim clerics.they pay homage to.
Quote:
"Send this clerics family home for him to keep.
Why should we keep his ugly brood !!!"
• Posted by: abuela
Well posted as usual., abuela
No problem with a Union Jack toting British Muslim but just look at the backlash he gets from the fanatical Muslim cleric.
• Posted by: TrueBlueSpirit • Report Comment

These aren't unusual comments. But it would be wrong to think that the Express has the only anti-Muslim agenda out there. Mad Mel is allowed to spout her ridiculous nonsense in the Spectator and Mail, in the former using the story of the priest attacked by a gang to claim that 'jihad' is happening, even though the priest himself says that's a racist attitude. I wrote this week about Damian Thompson's chirpily anti-Muslim blog at the Telegraph. And even Private Eye, to their eternal shame, employ 'Ratbiter', a writer whose job seems to be to create the impression of radical Islam terrorising Britain without ever providing any scrap of evidence whatsoever.

If you do think Islam is the problem, it seems you're not alone. Writers in posh magazines and newspapers, as well as in the sewer of the Express, say that Islam in itself is the problem - implying that Islam itself is radical, that Islam equals jihad and that Muslims can't be like ordinary citizens. This viewpoint is becoming more and more prevalent. A lot of people really do think that the Muslims are coming to take over Europe; I read it more and more. There never seems to be any real evidence or investigation; it's always just some person's personal view, often based on the fact they come from a different religion and background.

Can you imagine a Muslim columnist in a mid-market newspaper saying that Jews are the problem, that they can't be ordinary citizens, that they're all radical nutjobs trying to colonise our country - and getting away with it? Can you imagine a Muslim columnist in Private Eye saying that there's a whole bunch of radical Jews out there, without having any evidence whatsoever, and slagging anyone off who attempts to disprove this utter lie? Can you imagine any crime committed by a Jew being taken as evidence that their religion is to blame, and dozens of commenters at the bottom of a news story being allowed to say this?

Then why do we allow these anti-Muslim agendas to carry on? In the interests of free speech? Really? Then why is it only ever in one direction?

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