The bias in this article is incredible. Apparently the definition of liberal at BBC is tolerating intolerance, and keeping your mouth shut about maniacal violence and stupid ideas, as long as the perpetrators claim sacrilege and offense. Disgraceful.

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Islam, just like all other major religions, IS a violent collective of the weakest humans on earth and i’m glad MY Wilders says so.

There’s nothing intolerant about thinking that religious people are violent and ignorant. They prove it daily.  Intolerance is reserved for those that don’t have a choice in the thing they’re being discriminated for.

These fascists have a CHOICE to be Muslim.

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Agree with both comments above. Another thing the article fails to state categorically is that hatred and criticism are not the same thing.

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As far as I´m concerned, Wilder is representing a racist party among a bunch of others with similar agendas that now seem to be on the uprise throughout Europe. It is clear that he is only adding fuel to the very infected debate climate we see in several countries at the moment. He is not criticizing Islam as much as he is building up hatred towards muslims, a very disturbing development so say the least. I don´t see how his actions help to build up prosperity and common wealth in the dutch society at this point.

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racism can be found in many ways. Every human being can be racist, and meny actually are

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The accusation of racism is not helping the debate at all, it makes any opposition to mr Wilders look foolish and politically biased. My analysis of Wilders is that the man is quite obsessed with islam’s literal theology and does not acknowledge as much as he should that many claimed Muslims are simply ignorant or confused about their religion. In essence, Wilders is trying to tackle the problem of social cohesion. An area that is too complex for politics im afraid.

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Wilder may well be a fascist or a Christian zealot, I don’t know, I’m not a fan of his. The point of free speech doesn’t have anything to do with with who the speaker is, or what the speech is. The reaction of the ‘liberal’ media is alarming.

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Some above seem to be conflating religion with race. Islam is not a race, it is a set of ideas that should be open to criticism in the same way as any other philosphy. Mr. Wilders is merely drawing attention to the concerns of many regarding the beliefs that drive the followers of this particular religion. The problem here is the exaggerated sensitivity that many deeply religious people have in relation to their beliefs that creates an intolerance to freedom of expression where their religion is concerned. This is particulary true with Islam and it’s followers, where the reaction to criticism is often aggressive, and sometimes violent. Throw in lazy accusations of racism and xenophobia when anyone is brave enought to speak out publicly and you have a situation where the majority are cowed into silence. This is the problem Mr. Wilders is trying expose, requiring considerable courage. Some, who have tried in the recent past to do the same, have been driven into hiding or even assassinated. If we are to protect our liberal, tolerant values we must not let free speech be curtailed in the name of diversity or perceived victimhood.

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Agree with you Reed. Funny how The Religious take offense at criticisms leveled against them but feel free and in fact think nothing of condemning in the strongest terms, atheists and other Non Believers.  Goose, sause and gander come to mind.

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FYI. Wilders has professed to be an atheist in an interview once

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Thank you Reed, you have hit the proverbial nail on the head.  We too often confuse race and religion.  I believe ethnic and cultural diversity are something we should embrace, but can, and should be open to criticism.  Further to that, race is merely a human construct we all to commonly link with culture.  Oh for the day when we finally realize people are just people.

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Addendum, that is supposed to read: “believe ethnic and cultural diversity are something we should embrace, but RELIGION should be open to criticism”

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I have to admit that I don’t even understand what race is. I never have. What is the distinction? Skin color only? What does it affect. Can someone recommend a good science book on what is known about this?

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The scientific study of race is a clouded topic that is seldom objective. Best to just think of race as heritage than something more scientifically tangible. But back to the topic at hand there is nothing racial involved in the evaluation of a belief system. Furthermore evoking accusations of racism or ethnic intolerance blur the true point at hand which is the benevolence of Islam. I also wonder however if this debate can escape the ethical quagmire that is evaluating the morality of a system of morals.

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Anti-islamic arguments in EU are often used to promote traditional Christian culture. This is dangerous because it just replaces one malicious ideology with another.
The only protection of civilised society against islamisation (or any other barbaric ideology) is reliance and support of secular values!

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I think that is exactly what Wilders tries to do. I do not think Wilders has a christian agenda. He was raised a roman catholic, but once he reached the adult age he left the faith and is now an agnostic. (ref.: http://www.trouw.nl/achtergrond/Dossiers/article1432020.ece)
His main focus is not on the muslims but on the koran. He’s against the message in the koran and I think he is well aware of the difference of interpretation by and value of the Koran for muslims and the value and interpretation of the bible by most christians. (In The Netherlands)

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Religion is like sports. There are sports like golf and there are sports like Thai Boxing. They are both sports but have almost nothing in common. Some sports carry more risk then others and in the same sense some religions more prone to violence then others. i. e. Islam

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