Some fears about Islam are entirely rational
by Richard Dawkins, spiked:
Richard Dawkins on the perils of outlawing ‘Islamophobia’.
A ‘phobia’ is an irrational fear, as in claustrophobia, agoraphobia or arachnophobia, all conditions deserving of sympathy. But fear can be rational, too. An infantryman in a First World War trench would have every reason to fear going over the top. To accuse him of a ‘phobia’ would be uncharitable, to say the least. An Australian suspected of arachnophobia might point out that spiders with a dangerous bite are not rare. In Britain, there’s much less to fear from spiders, so my fear of them could fairly be called arachnophobia. Is there a group of people who, like Australians in the case of spiders, have good reason to fear certain aspects of Islam? If such a group exists, I suggest it would be found among Muslims themselves.
A gay Muslim living in an Islamic country might have reasonable misgivings. There are nine Muslim countries in which consensual homosexuality carries the death penalty. A Muslim woman in Iran might reasonably fear being arrested by the morality police for showing a tendril of hair. In Pakistan or Britain, she might fear violent reprisals from her father, uncles or brothers if she is suspected of consorting with an unsuitable man. In Somalia, a girl might reasonably fear older female relatives who intend to hold her down and take a razor blade to her clitoris. Not phobia, just justifiable fear. In Saudi Arabia, an unmarried adulterer might reasonably fear the prescribed 100 lashes, while a married adulterer can expect the death penalty.
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