Islamophobia is a religious freedom issue Catholics should prioritize

This summer, we’ve seen a string of anti-Muslim incidents across the country. Many of them — including several brutal attacks of Muslim individuals outside of their houses of worship — occurred during Ramadan, Muslim’s holy month.

Amid these concerning events, I’ve written and spoken about Islamophobia and how it is a threat to American Muslim’s religious freedom. Below I share excerpts from an op-ed I wrote for Crux, a panel I participated in hosted by Georgetown’s Initiative for Catholic Social Thought, and a Huffington Post article I was quoted in.

From Crux:

Dehumanizing political rhetoric about refugees and discriminatory policy proposals by presidential candidates also have a very real impact on the daily lives of American Muslims.

Young Muslim students have been bullied and called “ISIS” or “terrorist” at school. Some women have considered taking off their headscarves so they don’t appear Muslim. And even children have approached their parents with the heartbreaking question: “If Donald Trump is president, will we have to leave?”

In the wake of the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, some Muslims decided to stay away from their mosques for fear of being targeted.

The comedian and actor, Aziz Ansari, told his parents not to go to services, even though it was the festive and holy season of Ramadan. In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, he wrote, “I realized how awful it was to tell an American citizen to be careful about how she worshiped.”

At its most basic level, Islamophobia is a religious freedom issue. American families can’t go to their houses of worship without fear of them being sprayed with bullets or graffiti. Men and women feel they must change the way they dress to receive fewer stares and the threat of assaults. Children are bullied at school because they are Muslim.

This is a reality that should alarm all Americans, especially Catholics concerned about issues of religious liberty. Continue reading

Video from “Faith, Hope, and Courage in a Time of Fear” event:

And from Huffington Post:

Given these incidents, many [Muslims] are understandably fearful to go to their houses of worship. And this is a shame in a country where freedom of religion is supposed to be a basic right. As a Catholic, I can’t imagine what it would be like to find my church vandalized or shot at during the lead up to Christmas, or to learn that in many places around the country, people who share my faith were beaten up outside their place of prayer. It would be extremely frightening. This is the reality American Muslims are living with. Continue Reading