Enough with Christophobia

"This heinous crime, which the police is still investigating, is latest one in the horrible chain of attacks against the Christians in our country. And although it was perpetrated by a few young fanatics, there are many other “respectable” people that deserve to be blamed for. They, of course, did not (and would not) support this carnage, but they undoubtedly inspired the killers by continuously spreading a sick ideology: Christophobia, i.e., the fear of Christians and Christianity.

It is not rocket science to understand that if you systematically spread the feelings of fear and hatred about a particular group of people, you will pave the way for violence against them."

". . . both in Turkey and in the Muslim world in general, there are two strains of Christophobic thought, and action, whose ties to Islam should be studied carefully.

The first one is what I would call Islamo-nationalism. Its adherents perceive Islam as an important part of their national identity and see people of different faiths as threats towards it. These threats can be the “imperialist” US and EU — as the 370,000 secularist protestors who gathered in Ankara last Saturday saw them — or their perceived “fifth columns,” which would include pro-Western liberals and non-Muslim minorities. Especially Muslim converts to Christianity are deeply hated, because that they have defected to the enemy."

"For these people, what the Qur'an and the Islamic tradition say about Christianity is not very important. Their hatred is based on political issues, on which they might agree with some die-secularists such as the “Kemalists” of Turkey."

"The second source of Christophobia and anti-Christian violence in Muslim societies is a more direct outcome of Islam as a religion. Here lie some traditional concepts in Islamic law such as the ban on apostasy.

Although the Qur'an decrees no punishment for a person who leaves Islam and chooses another religion, traditional Sharia, which is a post-Qur'anic body of law created in the early centuries of Islam, brings a horrible sentence: capital punishment. According to this view, anybody who abandons Islam can be rightfully killed — a punishment which the Afghan convert to Christianity, Abdur Rahman, barely escaped last year thanks to the intervention by the international community."

"As a more short-term solution to Christophobia, we Turks need to begin to stand against it more vigorously. Our all-mighty state shows no lack of determination in punishing insults (and sometimes even criticism!) against “Turkishness” and its perceived sacred pillars. It should also start punishing those who spread hatred against the Christian — or Jewish, Armenian, Kurdish etc. — citizens. That hatred not only ends in horrible bloodsheds, but also puts shame on us Turks more effectively than any insult could do."
Enough with Christophobia - Turkish Daily News Apr 20, 2007