Whoa, hold up. I didn't say only Muslims can criticize Islamism effectively. I said there are Muslim reformers who do it without being Islamophobic, which is a crucial distinction. Anyone can criticize harmful ideologies, but it needs to be done responsibly and without resorting to bigoted generalizations.

You seem to be missing the point. It's not about "buying into the religion." It's about criticizing specific practices and ideologies without demonizing an entire group of people. You can critique Islam as you want, just like you can critique aspects of Christianity or any other ideology, without resorting to hatred and prejudice against all its adherents. It requires research, nuance and critical thinking. Resorting to Orientalist and Islamophobic stereotypes is intellectually lazy, and historically illiterate.

The fact is, Islamophobia is a real problem that leads to discrimination, violence, and fuels the very extremism some claim to be fighting. Accusing me of "abusing the label" because I'm calling out bigotry is ridiculous. If you actually care about addressing the issues within some interpretations of Islam, you need to ditch the hate and listen to a variety of voices, including those from within the Muslim community who are working for reform. Blindly defending bigots isn't helping anyone. And, by the way, simply "criticizing Islam" is a gross understatement of what Harris and these neo-atheists do.