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human
CMV: being against Islam does not make somebody racist, because Islam is a religion, not a race.

Here in Australia, there have been anti-Islam rallies and other people opposing Islam. In response, there have been pro-Islam rallies and other people supporting Islam. Regarding religious beliefs, my personal view is to let people believe what they want as long as they aren't hurting others. 

Anyway, one thing that confuses me is that some of the people supporting Islam were claiming that opposing Islam makes somebody racist. Some believe that criticising the beliefs of Islam, the ideas of Islam, etc. (not criticising a person based on their race, colour of their skin etc.) is racist. I don't understand that logic, because Islam is a religion, not a race. 

Not to mention, if someone opposes other religions, for example Christianity or Buddhism, they aren't told they're racist, so why can people say if you oppose Islam you are racist? 

If anyone can help me gain perspective of this argument that opposing Islam is racist, I'd really appreciate it.
gpt
Usually when someone opposes Islam, they are opposing people whom they associate with Islam, i.e. someone of Middle Eastern descent. There are many white, black, etc. Muslims, but non-ME Muslims are not nearly as ostracized as those who people think "look" Muslim. Case in point: after 9/11, many people who were/looked Middle Eastern were targeted for retaliatory hate crimes. Problem is, a lot of the people who were harassed were actually Sikh or Hindu.. not Muslim, but they looked Middle Eastern, therefore were targeted.

I definitely also think that Islam is a religion, not a race. But people are using the religion as an opportunity to simply stereotype someone based on race, making anti-Islam protests inherently racist.