FACT CHECK: Did Winston Churchill Say This Quote About Muslims?
A meme shared on Facebook claimed that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “When Muslims are in the minority they are very concerned with minority rights, when they are in the majority there are no minority rights.”
Verdict: False
There is no indication that Churchill ever made this statement during his lifetime.
Fact Check:
In light of Muslim immigration into Europe and elsewhere, some Facebook users have shared this quote, which attempts to use Churchill’s esteem to criticize the growth of Muslim populations in historically non-Muslim countries.
However, The Daily Caller found no evidence of Churchill ever saying this. The quote does not appear in a selection of works by and about Churchill.
Richard Langworth, a senior fellow at the Hillsdale College Churchill Project, lists the quote on his page of “All the ‘Quotes’ Winston Churchill Never Said.”
While this saying cannot be attributed to Churchill, the British statesman was both fascinated by and a critic of Islam, expressing admiration for the bravery of Muslims, but condemnation for the religion itself.
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith,” Churchill wrote in “The River War.”
