Thats precisely the point. Since Islam isnt a religion, people can get away with bigotry directed at Muslims, which is quite obviously racism.
Ill give an example, during the NYC mosque protests many people were concerned that building a mosque was a sign of Shariah law entering America, and if im not wrong Ann Coulter went ahead and said that the NYC mosque was a symbol of Muslim victory on a "conquered" America. Similarly headscarves have been banned in some areas of Europe, minarets are not allowed in Mosques and so on. Its nothing but Xenophobia and racism against Muslims, which is put forth as a critique of Islam.
However like I mentioned much of this Xenophobia is also the fault of the Muslims themselves who have failed to integrate and educate the non muslims about there faith and culture.
I dont want to go more into this for now, as the discussion will go into a tangent. Lets leave this debate for another time. I will stick to what is going on in Pakistan in this thread.
I agree. I dont think such concern is racism. Racism is a different kind. Also, the protests at least in Pakistan are more to do with political power play of the fringe right, then the movie as i am 100% sure 99.99% havent even seen the video.
Agreed, and I didnt intend to conflate critique of religious radicalism and racism. My only point was that much of criticism of Islam, is veiled racism. Ofcourse some racists will now take these violent protests and brush all muslims as virulent disease affecting the free world..
But regardless the concern remains valid, whether or not a racist is the one who is pointing it out.