Islamophobia: Fact or Fiction?

Today had been marked by the U.N. as International Day to Combat Islamophobia. At noon Eastern Time, Robert McCaw, the government affairs director from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was to speak at a Capitol Hill briefing on combating what they call "international Islamophobia." The U.N. is calling for a global dialogue that promotes tolerance, peace, and respect for human rights and religious diversity.

Returning to Crosstalk with commentary on this issue was Usama Dakdok. Usama is founder of the Straight Way of Grace Ministry. He is the speaker on the daily radio broadcast, Revealing the Truth About Islam. He speaks fluent Arabic and has translated the Qur'an into English. He's the author of Exposing the Truth about the Qur'an and Exposing the Truth About Jihad and the booklets, The Violent Truth about Islam and The Straight Way to Eternal Life.

The discussion led off with Usama defining the term, "Islamophobia". He indicated that according to Wikipedia, it's defined as, "...the fear, hatred or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims generally.

Usama followed up by noting that this is a lie. He said, "We do not have any problem with Muslims, we have a problem with Islam.

Next, he defined two words: phobia and Islam. A phobia is an irrational fear. He noted people who fear swimming, flying or being in an elevator. That's an irrational fear—a phobia, because in essence, you're afraid of nothing.

However, if you're standing on train tracks and the train is coming at you at 300mph, that's a rational fear—the fear of something real. This is the case with Islam.