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by Jayjay
What does make you a racist is to assert that all members of Islam hold exactly the same values, and to associate Islam solely with the immigrants from Asia. This, as I understand it, is what Pim and his party have done

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As it makes you prejudiced to assert that all members of any religious group are the same.

I have two close friends who are Muslim. Both are the children of mixed marriages and are Westernised(for want of a better term) in their attitudes and lifestyles. Both drink alcohol, one eats the odd bacon sarnie and the other aviods pig products at all costs. But both would describe themselves as Muslim, religiously as well as culturally. They are British citizens and feel that the excesses of Islamic states are something that they want no truck with.

Blaming a religion for the views of its extremists is as bad as blaming a race or colour, but it's easily done. I disagree violently with Islam's teachings on the role of women, but as I have a friend who manages to reconcile being a Muslim woman with living the life of any single 20-something British professional, how could I assert that Islam per se is wrong? It's not my culture confilct, it's hers.

I have to say that I don't actually know where the majority of immigrants to the Netherlands are from. The two I know about are Britain and France, and I would add here that certainly in these cases the immigrant 'problem' stems from the age of empires, in that when an imperial power moves out and leaves a country to fend for itself, often the best option for betterment seems to be to move to the former parent country. This may not be true in the Netherlands and is in any case a whole other can of worms, but it's an issue I feel is too often not considered.

I guess this can all be summed up by saying 'I disagree violently with what you say, but I would defend to the death your right to say it'. The problem arises when people feel that for whatever reason certain groups should be denied that right, and it happens on both sides. Fundamentalist Islam (or any religion) will antagonise people to the extent that they respond in kind.