I've been meaning to pen this for a while, but the Islam diary today has reminded me that this is an issue that needs some definition.
Two observations: Firstly, there are from time to time diaries on Daily Kos that attack Catholicism in strident terms. I know that plenty of Kossacks find these diaries and the ensuing comments bigoted, and that many other Kossacks react with equal vigour that the Catholic Church is in many aspects an enemy of the progressive movement and deserves attacking.
Secondly, there are from time to time diaries that are critical of Islam, and many of the comments reprimand those diaries for being bigoted or racist. The diarists often defend themselves by saying that Islam is not a race and is an enemy of the progressive movement and deserves attacking.
I don't want to take sides on this, per se, but I would like to try and come to some definitional agreements so that our conversations about race, religion and bigotry can be a little more constructive. This is my first draft on it, and I'd appreciate your feedback, so that DKos can be more constructive in discussing issues related to religion and bigotry, and we can do away with some of the egregious anger and violent rhetoric.
So, here goes - I'll be referencing Islam and Catholicism for demonstrative purposes throughout, as these seem to be the hot-button areas of conflict.
I'm going to define BIGOTRY as a hatred (often irrational, usually absolute or close to being absolute) of something for its inherent qualities.
- RACE - whether biologically-grounded, or socially constructed, race is something immutable. You cannot change your race, which is a function of your ethnicity. This has a massive biological component, and thus is based predominantly on parentage - for that reason Jews and Sikhs are defined as races in the UK. We recognise races as including White, Black, East Asian, South Asian, Arabian, and countless other terms and permutations. Interestingly, 'Hispanic' is not a race according to the US government (Hispanics can be white or black)
RACISM is BIGOTRY against a RACE
Neither Islam or Catholicism are races. Period. If we are to be strict about the definition of racism, Islamophobia and anti-Catholic hatred aren't racist per se (though they can be a vehicle for racism).
- NATIONALITY - fairly striaghtforward, this is usually citizenship of a nation state, but can be membership of a non-state nation (like Wales). It means a deep-seated relationship to a cultural grouping, as manifested through history, culture, language and often territory. It is independent of race, though often has significant overlap with a racial group. Welsh people are mostly, but not all, white - they often speak Welsh and live in Wales, but many do not.
XENOPHOBIA is BIGOTRY against a NATIONALITY
Islam and Catholicism are not strictly nations, though there are nations that hold them as the national religion and a key constituent aspect of national culture (Muslims in Saudi Arabia, or Catholics in Vatican City).
- RELIGION - a system of beliefs, often given at birth, by which people live their lives. The definition needs be vague, but I think the flexibility will actually help us discuss.
CREDOPHOBIA is a word I'm creating/appropriating to describe bigotry against a RELIGION (and where it is againt Islam is often called ISLAMOPHOBIA)
Islam and Catholicism are both religions. So bigotry (remember hatred of PEOPLE as defined by their Race/Nationality/Religion/Music taste) against them could be described as CREDOPHOBIC on my definition.
"But stop" I hear you shout, "religions, including Catholicism and Islam are just belief systems, so they don't deserve a special class - we hate the religion, not the religious."
I'm not entirely convinced. Certainly there is a belief system at play (pro-life for Catholics, or the immorality of drinking alcohol for most Muslims) which can be attacked just as viciously as Libertarianism, or Conservatism, or Socialism without there being bigotry involved. Bigotry, as I've defined it, means hating the person and the group based on that innate characteristic (Race/Religion/Nationality).
This is why religions aren't just belief systems - for many people, they are so bound into their essential identity (as Race, or Sexual Orientation might be) that to hate the belief system is easily transmuted into hatred of the person/people who believe(s) in it.
"But bigotry against races or sexual orientation or gender is wrong because people can't change those - there's nothing wrong with attacking Catholics or Muslims, because they choose to believe" I hear some of you cry.
There is some truth to that, but that is one reason I included Nationality. As someone who was brought up Catholic, and every day struggles to decide whether I should leave in protest or stay to fight the battles within the Church, I would say it is not just a belief set and not simply a matter of choice.
I have changed my views on everything, politically/musically/ethically, over the last ten years and will continue to re-evaluate and choose the side that I think is right. But giving up my faith is not simply the abandonment of a belief system, but a denial of an aspect of my identity. To give up being a Catholic, whilst possible, would be less like giving up on Anarchist philosophy and more like giving up my Nationality.
Religions are a constituent part of a believer's identity, and are therefore both painful to give up under most circumstances, and never fully escaped. If I converted to Buddhism, I would still be a Catholic who became a Buddhist because it would still haev been a formative part of my identity for such a long time. There's no choice about that. In the same way, an American disgusted with US foreign policy could renounce their citizenship and become French, but they would always be an American who became French, rather than just a Frenchman. It would still be a constituative part of who they were, even if just in channelling the path of the rejection of that identity.
So whereas I would say that hatred of Conservatism or Socialism isn't "bigotry", I would say that hatred of Catholicism and Islam could be, if the hatred is for the group defined by that: they do have choice, but it is not as simply a choice. Hatred of Americans is still Xenophobia, even though you have the option to renounce your citizenship - hatred of Catholics and Muslims is still Credophobia even though they could abandon their faiths.
SO, where does this leave us?
I don't think there is a place for bigotry on Daily Kos (that was easy to type!), but no belief system (including religion) should be free from criticism. The attacks on Catholicism and Islam need to be careful that a line is not crossed from debating the belief systems (and their many flaws from a progressive perspective) and hating the religion and its adherents.
However, even where that line is crossed into bigotry against Catholics and Muslims (and Hindus and Buddhists) and becomes CREDOPHOBIA, it is still only as bad as XENOPHOBIA (because nationality too can be abandoned). It is nowhere near as bad as RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA and SEXISM which are hatreds of people for innate and immutable characteristics.
So I don't think it is in our interests to describe Islamophobia as "racism" - firstly, because Islam isn't a race, and secondly because it upgrades the charge: Islamophobia is a form of bigotry (credophobia, like anti-Catholic bigotry) but it isn't as bad as bigotries that are based on immutable charateristics like race or gender.
HOWEVER, there is no doubt that even attacking Islam just as a belief system is often Islamophobic (bigoted as credophobia). OFtentimes, that Islamophobic bigotry is a convenient mask for racism (against South Asians or Arabs usually). Many people who attack Islam are bigots (Islamophobia) and racists (hate Arabs), but at the same time it often inflames conversations to refer to all anti-Islam sentiment as 'bigotry' and 'racism'. That is not to deny it exists, but we can have more constructive conversations by giving our fellow Kossacks the benefit of the doubt, and believing that their disagreements with Islam are not bigoted or racist unless evidence of those specific charges comes forward.
I think we need to be more careful in taking on these topics, and I wanted this to be a starter-for-ten on how we define terms and engage with each other. I hope it's been somewhat helpful, or at least been food for your better thoughts on how we can have these conversations and keep them productive.
Over to you.