So I watched a short video tonight by a guy called Mussafil Islam, which seems to have gone viral. And it made me think in a way in which such things normally don't.
And as a result, I want you to ask yourself a question. And that question is: "Am I a racist?". Or at least, "Am i an Islamophobe?"
Now don't misunderstand me. I'm no politically-correct "do gooder". I am a white Christian. And that is not just a convenient label which I use to describe myself. I don't go to church every week but I do believe in The Christ and am God-fearing. And I do try to live by the Christian doctrine. I have serious reservations about immigration and I do worry a great deal about our Christian society being diluted by other faiths. And, yes, I do get angry when I read that I can no longer wear a cross in my own Christian country or display a Christmas tree at work for fear of offending "minority" faiths.
That now out of the way, I refer back to my original question. Every time you turn on the TV or radio, no matter how moderate you believe or hope yourself to be, whenever you hear about another suicide bomb killing tens or hundreds including innocent children, another Lee Rugby hacked to death on the streets of London, another innocent aid worker cruelly and disgracefully beheaded, does not some small part of you not think "I fucking hate all Muslim murdering bastards"?
I know this to be true. My formative years were the sixties and seventies. When I attended small school black and Asian kids were a novelty, if not to be feared. I remember my parents telling me "don't talk to the coloured boy" (or words to that effect, you fill in the blanks). Don't judge - that's just how it was. This was also the time of the Irish "Troubles". It seemed at the time that every news bulletin carried an item about IRA horrors. Some will remember well Enniskillen and the Birmingham pub bombings. I grew up to think that all Catholics are evil murdering bastards or IRA informants. I carried those prejudices with me for years. Thirty years or so later, I now know how totally wrong these obscene prejudices were.
I well remember a famous speech by Enoch Powell. He was a horrible racist but at the time I could not help but think his predictions would realise themselves.
I fear the same for modern kids who hear daily on the news of the horrors committed by ISIS, Al Quaeda and the like. How do they feel about Islam?
Most of us know at least one Muslim. I admit I don't know many but have met more. And, despite my earlier-voiced reservations, i believe that, by and large, they are all fine, decent, upstanding citizens. I have enough faith in my own judgement of character to know this to be true.
Ours is a forward-thinking, modern society, admired throughout the world, of which we should be proud. I have no desire to see it ripped apart by the " Rivers of Blood" of which Mr Powell spoke.
So well said Mr Islam. I hope white Christians listen and take note.
