A Muslim leader in the UK, Muhammad Abdul Bari, is whining that Muslims there aren’t getting a fair shake while simultaneously claiming that the “positive” aspects of Islam can help make society better. That sort of talk pisses me off on so many levels. Let’s start with the poor, persecuted Muslim act:

There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us. The air is thick with suspicion and unease. It is not good for the Muslim community, it is not good for society.

Every society has to be really careful so that situation does not lead us to a time when people’s minds can be poisoned as they were in the 1930s.

If your community is perceived in a very negative manner and poll after poll says that we are alienated then Muslims begin to feel very vulnerable.

We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything, and that is not good for society.

A bunch of Muslims are running around blowing people up in the name of Allah, yet it’s the suspicion and uneasiness of the potential victims that isn’t good for society? Sorry, Muhammad. It wasn’t Buddhists who flew into the World Trade Center on 9/11, nor was it Rastafarians who attacked London on 7/7. The majority of terrorism directed against Western targets in the last several years has been from Muslim nutjob extremists. If you want people to stop looking at you with suspicion, you can start by cleaning up your backyard. If you really believe in what’s good for society, then get busy on quashing the homegrown extremist movement that is poisoning mosques across the UK.

The track record of Western countries in their relations with the rest of the world is certainly nothing to be proud of. There’s no doubt that several countries have legitimate gripes. Muslim extremists have chosen to direct their anger toward waging a holy war on the West as a response. It is not the Western governments who pay the price, but their citizens, no matter their political inclinations. These people aren’t responsible for what their governments have done. They are victims in a war they didn’t ask for.

One of the biggest perceived threats to safety in the modern world is a Muslim terrorist. If a Westerner looks at a Muslim with suspicion, it’s often because he’s wondering if this particular follower of Islam is just an average Joe or some lunatic with a suicide belt around his waist. Sure, some people probably do hate you and your kind. Bigotry is a sad reality that we have to deal with in one form or another. But self-preservation is a strong instinct, so I find no fault in someone who hesitates to get on a bus, subway, or airplane when they see a Muslim inside. When your extremist brethren stop blowing people up, maybe then we can start to heal the wounds between us.

And now for the ludicrous idea that Muslim beliefs can somehow make society better, a delusion shared by too many people around the world with regards to their own ancient mythologies:

Marriage should not be forced on people but parents can be a catalyst… Young people are emotional, they want idealism. Older people have gone through all sorts of things and become a bit more experienced.

Sure, parents and elders ought to give advice based on experience. But nobody needs any silly religious doctrine telling them who they can and can’t marry.

And he advocated no sex before marriage, saying “on adultery and living together, we should try to go back to the history-old, religiously-informed style of life that helps society”.

Sexual promiscuity and personal relationships are private matters. If a married couple run around cheating on each other, that’s no business of yours nor of anyone else. Your silly religious dogma doesn’t do anything to make society better. The honor killings Muslims practice are proof enough of that. Anyone who believes that murdering relatives because they slept with the wrong person at the wrong time is an improvement has no business living in Western society. Go somewhere where barbarism is still legal. We want no part of it.

Homosexuality was, he said, “unacceptable from the religious point of view”.

And is another example of why religious dogma is oppressive, hateful, and bigoted.

Children and young people should be encouraged to dress more modestly, he argues.

“You shouldn’t be revealing your body so much that it can be tempting to other people.

“I hope my daughter wouldn’t wear a bikini but I also hope she wouldn’t wear a burka. Islam doesn’t prescribe the type of dress, it just says you have to be modest. There should be social discussion about this.”

No, there shouldn’t be any social discussion. In a free society, people should be free to dress how they wish. The fact that public nudity is illegal is offensive to freedom as it is. We surely don’t need a bunch of sexually repressed prudes telling everyone how to dress. Then again, the Muslim belief that a woman in ‘immodest’ dress will tempt men too strongly says a great deal about Muslim men. If they truly are such slaves to their impulses, so unable to restrain or control themselves, then it goes a long way in explaining why so many of them blow themselves up.

The bottom line is that Western society needs Muslim principles just as much as it needs Christian principles, which is to say not at all. You can keep your abusive, hate-filled ways to yourself, thank you. Now why don’t you go do something truly productive, like trying to talk the next would-be martyr out of killing a bunch of people?