Chilliwack school trustee defends video linking Islam to violence
Posted March 17, 2019 2:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CHILLIWACK (NEWS 1130) – An almost two-year-old video featuring a Chilliwack school trustee is being called racist and Islamophobic after resurfacing in the wake of New Zealand’s terrorist attack that left 50 people — the majority of them Muslims — dead.
In the over 20 minute long video titled “Allah & Yahweh: The Same God?” trustee Darrell Furgason links Islam to violence and says Muslims need to be “freed” from their religion. He also pits Christianity against Islam and says the two religions could never co-exist.
“In Islam there’s no real democracy, restricted freedom, limited rights. Christianity can produce a healthy democracy if the righteous are in authority,” Furgason says in part of the video.
“Heaven for a Muslim involves sex and alcohol where supposedly you get 72 virgins. Some say you can even write a list and bring 72 of your relatives into heaven with you if you blow yourself up.”
Islamophobia expert Todd H. Green says the video is racist and Islamophobic, adding it promotes the inaccurate idea that Muslim extremism is a mainstream issue.
“In terms of ‘they are a threat to us, they hold nothing in common with us,’ the video does not get into the overt white supremacy that you find in people like Anders Breivik or the New Zealand perpetrator but it’s moving in that direction,” Green told NEWS 1130.
“Islamophobia is racism. It is deliberately casting Muslims as against us with the understanding that us is oftentimes either Christian or, in many cases, white.”
Green adds “othering” religions and races can lead to violence.
When contacted by NEWS 1130, Furgason claims he was only explaining the differences between the religions and their deities.
“There are Jihadist groups that are being monitored in Canada right now. There are no Christian terror groups being monitored. I think you should look that up,” he told a NEWS 1130 reporter.
“Muslims can be peaceful. I have no problem with that, but Islam as a political ideology cannot be peaceful. Now am I saying Muslims can’t be peaceful? I repeat myself, no. There are peaceful Muslims and hopefully we have some.”
Furgason says he got a Masters Degree in Political Ideology from the University of Sydney in 1991 and a PhD in 2001.
Furgason condemned the attack in New Zealand and said he doesn’t condone violence against Muslims. He repeatedly asserted that he does not believe Christian or white terrorism is an issue anywhere in the world.
Furgason has recently made headlines for his comments regarding dress codes which critics say amount to victim shaming girls.
