According to Yasmine Mohammed “we must criticise ideas while avoiding bigotry.” It’s a simple enough notion, but one that all too often falls apart, especially when the topic is Islam. Islamophobia has been on the rise for many years, fuelled by the increased coverage of terrorist activity from Islamic extremists, politicians running on divisionist platforms, and misinformation spread online. You’d expect that misinformation to primarily be published by racists, but what if we told you that the liberal-minded were doing the same thing; that they were doing it unknowingly and to the detriment of their fundamental beliefs? In the face of tremendous Islamophobia, many liberals conflated any criticism of the religion with attacking Muslims directly. Some shut down any debate about Islam by branding it as racist without acknowledging the faith’s record of treating women poorly, violence against the LGBTQI+ community, and anti-Semitic beliefs. Liberals are failing themselves by avoiding any criticism of non-Christian religions. Rather than fighting for fundamental liberal values, they are letting human rights violations pass by in the name of religious freedoms. So how do you move away from virtue signalling “I am not Islamophobic” to being virtuous, evangelising the doctrine of “equal rights for all”? Yasmine Mohammed has a guide for you. Subscribe to Think Inc. → bit.ly/33tJYEN ABOUT THINK INC. Think Inc. is a community of individuals on a mission to expose the true face of modern society. Armed with ideas, we defy the stale conventions of learning by shifting the world’s attention to global ideas, while opening minds. We’re not on the fringe. We are trendsetters with the power to shift perceptions and reshape the face of the mainstream. In 2014, Think Inc. launched with the mandate of creating a community where ideas can be shared, challenged, voiced and became a champion of democratising ideas. On this foundation, Think Inc. has grown into a powerful collective. CONNECT WITH US • Join our mailing list → bit.ly/think-sign-up • Check out our store → bit.ly/ao-think-store • Website: thinkinc.org.au/ • Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThinkInc.org.au/ • Twitter: twitter.com/thinkincAU • Instagram: www.instagram.com/thinkinc/ • LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/company/think-inc.-events