The recent rise of anti-Islamic groups and demonstrations across Europe and the United States is increasingly becoming a common pattern. Carrying a mixed bag of resentments to a diverse of set of issues, most of which have very little or nothing to do with Islam or Muslims, the far-right and extremist groups are engaged in a systematic campaign to denounce minority Muslim communities as the scapegoats of the social, political and economic ills of their countries in Europe and the U.S. They use a selected and distorted image of Islam and seek to create a peculiar synthesis of Judeo-Christian and secular West against an imaginary enemy called the "Islamization of the West."The anti-Muslim movement is moving from discourse to action. The large demonstrations organized by the group called PEGIDA in Dresden, Germany on Dec. 15 attracted thousands of people. Their slogan is that "Germany is no immigrant's land." They demand immigrant communities live in accord with a "culture based on the Christian-Jewish" values and "humanism." Such a demand would easily exclude millions of native Germans, who would probably disagree with the PEGIDA's definition of how to be religious and humanist in 21st century Europe.Ironically, anti-Muslim movements use both Christian and secular arguments against immigrants in general and Muslims in particular. In a rather sinister way, they identify Muslims as both anti-Christian and anti-modern and anti-humanist. Far right religious and secular groups in Europe and the U.S., while disagreeing on almost all major issues, unite against what they perceive to be the threat of Islam.PEGIDA supporters in Germany deny that they are racist or neo-Nazis though some see them as "neo-Nazis in pinstripes." What is alarming is their median typology: blue collar workers, middle-class professionals, parents, pensioners and others. These are not extreme right-wing activists or gangs but ordinary people. And this is what is dangerous about the appeal of this new wave of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant movement. The large protests and the discourse they use point to the degree to which Islamophobia and xenophobia is becoming socially acceptable among diverse groups in Germany.Luckily, German politicians and citizens have reacted to this new movement that borders on racism. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "there's freedom of assembly in Germany, but there's no place for incitement and lies about people who come to us from other countries." A major counter-demonstration was held in Cologne to reject PEGIDA's racist views where the anti-Nazi slogan "nie wieda" (never again) was chanted.The Green Party member of the German Parliament Mr. Özcan Mutlu noted that "Islamophobia poses a big problem in Germany, like anti-Semitism." He also added that "German media has not taken its responsibility of warning the people about Islamophobia so far."These reactions are important but the problem will not go away by public statements alone. The social tide of Islamophobia is closely related to the rise of right-wing political parties such as France's Front National and Greece's Golden Dawn. The alarming fact is that these parties serve to normalize and legitimate what would normally be considered off-limits in a democratic order.Outside Germany, anti-Muslim attacks are on the rise. On Dec. 25, a small mosque in the Swedish city of Eskilstuna, about 90 kilometers west of Stockholm, was set on fire by an arson attack and five people were injured. This follows another incident back in January when swastikas were drawn on the front door of a mosque in Stockholm.In Norway, the convicted murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a shooting spree in 2011 to "save Europe from Islam," is reportedly seeking to create a network of like-minded fascists by writing hundreds of letters from his prison cell, according to Norwegian authorities. In France, French journalist Éric Zemmour sought to make a case for the deportation of the country's 5 million Muslims. Speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra, he claimed that Muslims tend to isolate themselves in the suburbs and live with each other, predicting that this will eventually lead to "chaos and civil war." French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve condemned Zemmour's statements.Across the Atlantic, Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein, a 15-year-old Somalian Muslim boy, died on Dec. 4 when, according to the Kansas City police, he was deliberately struck by a car that severed both of his legs. The driver was known to have made threats to Muslims in the city. His threats finally took the life of a young boy in a cowardly and barbaric attack.It is not difficult to amplify such examples. It is true that each of these is an independent case. But this is what precisely needs attention: so many different attacks in so many different countries are carried out with similar motives. They are repeated with increasing frequency and creating an environment of fear and intimidation.It is a fatal mistake to demonize Muslim minority communities in the name of protecting the Judeo-Christian and secular identity of Western countries. Whether one can make such a neat definition of identity in real life is much more complicated than the neo-racists want to make us believe. We all need to be vigilant against these campaigns of hatred and racism. People of conscience from different faith traditions and cultural backgrounds should be able to unite against the minority xenophobic and anti-Islam groups. This is how one should cherish religious and humanistic values to which we can all aspire.