Quick Take
There’s no support for the idea that Winston Churchill ever made a statement about Muslims that social media users continue to attribute to him.
Full Story
A remark about Muslims attributed to Winston Churchill continues to circulate on social media, even though there’s no evidence he ever said it.
“When Muslims are in the minority they are very concerned with minority rights, when they are in the majority there are no minority rights,” the supposed quotation reads.
Posted in a meme that includes a photo of Muslim activist Linda Sarsour, the quotation has been repeatedly reposted despite a dearth of evidence that the late British prime minister ever said anything of the sort. Churchill died in 1965.
Churchill experts also cast doubt on the veracity of the attribution.
“This ‘quote’ is widely found online but there is no documented evidence that Churchill ever said it,” Lee Pollock, trustee and adviser to the board of the International Churchill Society, told us in an email. “It does not appear in any of his many books, articles or speeches nor is there any attribution from a witness that he/she heard him say that.”
Likewise, a senior fellow at Hillsdale College’s Churchill Project, Richard M. Langworth, includes the quotation in a post titled “All the ‘Quotes’ Winston Churchill Never Said.”
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.
Sources
“About the Churchill Project.” The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College. Accessed 19 Jun 2019.
“History of Sir Winston Churchill.” Gov.uk. Accessed 19 Jun 2019.
Langworth, Richard M. “All the ‘Quotes’ Winston Churchill Never Said (2).” RichardLangworth.com. 16 Nov 2018.
Pollock, Lee. Trustee and adviser to the board, International Churchill Society. Email to FactCheck.org. 19 Jun 2019.
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