Leave Christmas Alone, Or The Muslims Suffer

From the UK--hey officials, leave Christmas alone:

Christian and Muslim Britons joined forces on Monday to tell city officials to stop taking the Christianity out of Christmas, warning them that this fueled right-wing extremism.

They attacked local authorities which used titles like "Winterval" for their Christmas celebrations and avoided using Christian symbols in case they offended minority groups, especially Muslims and Hindus.

The question of how best to integrate Muslims into European society, which has Christian roots but is increasingly secular, has become a burning issue, with Britain playing its part in the debate after years of promoting multiculturalism.

The Christian Muslim Forum, set up by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Church of England, complained that taking the Christian message out of Christmas played into the hands of right-wing extremists who then accused Muslims of undermining Britain's Christian culture.

"The desire to secularize religious festivals is in itself offensive to both our communities," said Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, vice chairman of the forum.

Anglican Bishop of Bolton David Gillett said that when local authorities rename Christmas so as not to offend other religions, their stance "will tend to backfire badly on the Muslim community in particular."

"We are concerned that those approaches which are based on anti-religious philosophies or a fear of religion are causing alienation in a wide variety of communities and fanning the growth of extremism," said Gillett, the forum chairman.

So secularization threatens religion, especially Islam--even if it is only directed at such foolish Christian activities such as Christmas?

Odd allies indeed.

Attacking Christian symbols or holidays=fostering "right-wing extremism" that targets Islam. Why not actually explore the true source of outrage on the part of some Britons at the attitudes of the Muslim community when it comes to things like bombings, riots, and calls for beheadings on a frequent basis? Attempting to garner sympathy or support by triangulating Christians and other Brits tired of attacks on their religion--Christianity being the sole target of well-meaning atheists, secularists, and diversity thugs--by claiming that Muslims suffer through a trickle-down effect of "right-wing extremism". Extreme anti-religious attitudes combined with supportive or neutral attitudes on the part of British Muslims toward global jihad has produced the so-called "backlash", not attacks on Christmas.