Religion, Faith, and Spirituality : The effects of current American islamophobia

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The study of Islam in the US: now what?. Anna Piela asks what Trump might mean for scholars of the Islamic faith

In the week following President Trumps executive order banning arrivals from the seven Muslim-majority countries, global audiences have watched heart-breaking scenes at US airports where thousands of people have been denied entry and turned back. Meanwhile, huge crowds across the world have demonstrated their support for Muslims, and public figures and institutions have condemned the bigotry of the new administration.

As a lecturer in religious studies with a particular interest in Islam, I think it is important to reflect on the prospects of Islam-related academic subjects while Trump is in office. So I have asked my American colleagues about their views on this issue. I asked them: g iven the history of deep suspicion of Islam in the US that transformed into hysterical Islamophobia post-9/11, can it really get any worse?

Maria Curtis, associate professor of anthropology and cross cultural studies and program director at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Texas is guardedly optimistic. As far as I can tell, anytime there seems to be a political shift like this, it only seems to drive up student interest in Islam and Middle East courses," she told me. "I am currently teaching a class called Islam in America, and I have 22 students enrolled. They are very engaged, sincere, and interested students.

"They are hoping to really learn more about Islam's roots in America and they are thrilled to know just how deep those roots are.

This trend is confirmed by Charles Kurzman and Carl W. Ernst from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who, in their 2012 paper Islamic Studies in U.S. Universities , noted a nationwide spike of interest in Islam in US academia since 2001. The numbers of dissertations and academic articles about Islam, and faculty members specialising in Islam have grown exponentially, they find. This has been paralleled by an increased and sensationalised media focus on the Muslim community.

As the authors observe, somewhat resignedly: this attention derives in large part from overblown fears of security threats. The field seems to benefit both from Muslims committing atrocities and also from the ignorance and paranoia of non-Muslims.

Islam-related subjects face serious ideological opposition from some evangelical Christian organisations, who oppose the teaching of Islam that does not show it as a terrorist religion. In 2002, an organisation called the Family Policy Network (FPN) filed suit against the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to prevent an academic text about the Koran from being taught as part of a summer induction programme, citing an alleged breach of the First Amendment.

FPN also argued that the book presented an idealised view of Islam that did not explain the terrorist acts of 9/11, and therefore did not provide a suitable educational resource for American students. FPN lost the case, and several subsequent appeals, but in doing so highlighted a prominent narrative: that teaching Islam is only justifiable as part of the securitisation agenda. This idea unsettlingly dovetails with the Trump administrations course of action.

As Kecia Ali, associate professor of religion at Boston University , says: "The administration's [executive] order has far-reaching, chilling, potentially devastating effects on the study of Islam and Muslims. She is joined by a chorus of voices from the American Academy of Religion and religious and Islamic studies departments across America.  The AARs statement of protest  says Trump's ban "poisons the publics understanding of Islam in particular and religion in general", and is an example of religious bigotry rooted in ignorance and as an attack on the American principle of religious liberty". 

Professor Curtis concludes that although we tend to blame a lot on Trump, Islam "has always challenged American pluralism".  

"It has been there as a benchmark of sorts, asking the question what are the limits of American pluralism?. And we find all sorts of examples and responses, some very forward thinking and tolerant, and some quite ready to cast all Mohammedans into the fire along with witches, criminals, pagans, and anyone else outside the realm of evangelical Protestants. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/study-islam-us-now-what

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Why are you taking up for Muslims? They believe in God, in case no one ever told you. Why on earth would a thing like you defend people who believe in a superior being without any objective scientific evidence?

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I've been taking up for them for many years, as best I can.

Anything else?

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I'm probably confusing you with Closet Erjen again. I tend to do that, sorry.

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Why are you taking up for Muslims?

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They believe in God, in case no one ever told you.

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Why on earth would a thing like you defend people who believe in a superior being without any objective scientific evidence?

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I hope that helps.

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It appears that you are therefore beyond help.

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Whereas Muslims can be won over to your side?

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I'd like to see you go to Saudi Arabia and make one of your tasteless cracks about their "invisible sky god." The results should be quite comical.

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And what 'side' is that Erjen?

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The blaspheming progressive evolutionary humanist side

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my friend.

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Clearly

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my friend.




I'm not your friend.

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When you start using "clearly" it means that you've shot your wad, but remember that you've got about ten more days to pull another lame propaganda thread like this before IMDb shuts off the respirator. Maybe even two of them.

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It is bizarre that even scholarly pursuits need to be defended

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Are you trying to argue against a dictionary and win?


Islamophobia is a word people recognise and understand, so deal with it. Anyway I've also seen words like Christophobia and Christianophobia around, even if they aren't listed in a dictionary. New words evolve all the time, so you just have to deal with that as well.

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For the same reason that hatred towards Christians is conflated with hatred towards Christianity, or hatred towards gay people conflated with hatred towards homosexuality. The haters believe people have a choice whether to be Muslim / Christian / gay / whatever and hate them for making the 'wrong' choice.

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My stance is that 'Islamophobia' is a loaded term, and if it as broadly-encompassing as the definition that Film Flaneur posted, then it is a pointless term

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most Christians are coming to accept the fact that people are allowed to have a disparaging opinion of their religion without being ostracised and accused of bigotry

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the standard should be the same for criticism of Christianity and criticism of Islam

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'Islamophobia' should not be synonymous with racism towards brown skinned people who happen to practice the religion of Islam.

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You don't often hear of white liberal people calling for a boycott of comedians who make jokes about Christianity; whereas a comedian making jokes about Islam would be considered beyond the paler.

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From which we take the message that if Islamophobia is not broadly-encompassing as the standard dictionary definition then it is not pointless. One hardly needs to make the pointed that terms are only loaded to those who insist on looking for guns.

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Yes, isn't freedom of speech wonderful?

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I can't speak everywhere but in the UK there is equality under the law and all religions are protected against hate speech and intimidation just the same. It may be that you have perceptual bias, and see a imbalance where there is none.

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It is not seen as synonymous but unfortunately (non-Muslim) racists and bigots tend to always have Islamophobia.

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A fair point, but this might just be that minorities, and their support/protection is something the law in western liberal democracies pays special note of, and this tone is carried over into more general considerations. But even so here you seem to be annoyed at the mere thought of politeness and consideration where, even if perceived as one-sided, it is not necessarily a bad thing of itself. Having said that, though, the general tone towards Islam in western countries (witness the various howls on this board) has undeniably become more hostile, with less and less 'beyond the pale', right up to the current White House thinking - which you seem to overlook.

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If it were narrowed down to dislike of Islam, then that could still be countered with the fact that there are rational reasons to dislike Islamic theology

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But disliking Christian theology is not as potent a political football as disliking Islamic theology, because dislike of Islamic theology is considered synonymous with dislike of people with brown skin.

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Just a shame that it's only deemed permissible to 'freely' speak out against white heterosexual people and the ideas that such people hold.

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And why most atheists/anti-theists such as myself would really hate to live in Saudi Arabia, or basically any other Muslim majority country.

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There's a lot of hand-wringing going on any time there is any public criticism of Islam. Conversely, criticism and mockery of Christianity is very mainstream in most Christian-majority nations

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But do you think that Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Bill Maher are all racists who hate people based on the colour of their skin? In the clip that Cody posted, Sam Harris and Bill Maher were accused of racism by Ben Stiller because they criticised Islamic theology. It's a common knee-jerk reaction.

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I despise political correctness, because it infantilises the people that it exists to protect

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And you're right about the tone towards Islam becoming increasingly hostile. That is NOT being helped by people trying to shut down debate on the subject by tarring all those with critical views on Islam as racists.

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Donald Trump's ascendency is endemic of the fact that people are fed up of being told that Muslims (as one example) are part of a protected class that must never be criticised.

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This is also true, but I have already mentioned the fact that those who, typically dislike Islam are also likely to be racially conservative as well as culturally. I don't know whether those who dislike Christianity in Iraq, say, are also related to those racially conservatives but Anti-Americanism is certainly common.

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But this is not true; as already pointed out Islamophobia is clearly on the rise in the West, for various reasons.

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Indeed; but there are plenty of minorities of all sorts who would not like to live in any strict theocracy. I doubt whether as an atheist I would have been comfortable in Salem, Mass. during the late 17th century for instance. I still doubt too, if American, I would be voted for as a candidate for high office if my atheism was known.

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Having said that of course, there is a healthy tradition of anti-clericism and religious satire in the main Western democracies which, one imagines, is simply never seen in the more proscriptive Islamic states.

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It seems to me that political correctness is very often just an excessive, or needless, amount of politeness. It may be foolish or irritating. But there are worse things to be worried about.

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You are entitled your opinion. I am more inclined to see his rise as the epitome of a growing popularism in politics more generally, with an increased mistrust of the existing political and media classes by the predominantly white working and lower middle classes. I don't see it as a protest vote over political correctness towards another religion although the 'other' can always be seen as scapegoats for perceived unfairnesses and failures in a wider society.

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global audiences have watched heart-breaking scenes at US airports where thousands of people have been denied entry and turned back

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Meanwhile, huge crowds across the world have demonstrated their support for Muslims

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and public figures and institutions have condemned the bigotry of the new administration

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Islamophobia

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Islamophobia


WTF does this even mean??

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The fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or towards Islamic politics or culture.

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Then whither the term 'Christophobia' (or similar) or towards Christian politics or culture?

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Whither the outrage towards atheists who criticise Christianity regularly?

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And why would hatred towards Muslims be conflated with hatred towards the religion of Islam

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There is no equivalent, neat single word, although 'anti-Christian' is used. You can, of course, choose to see this as conspiracy and discrimination by etymologists if you chose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Christian_sentiment

while 'anti-theist' is sometimes used, as if it means the same.

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You mean the current vogue for the (often intended as insulting) 'militant atheism'?

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The reason that there's no equivalent word is ostensibly because there is a perceived need to protect the beliefs and sensibilities of an ethnic minority

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evidence that society is overcompensating for the legacy of racism in white majority nations.

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We aren't seeing petitions being signed by millions of people to prevent atheist comedians who make fun of Christianity in their comedy routines from entering the country.

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Well then, while neither of us see any emtymological conspiracy, can we take it from this that you do not see a need to protect minorities? I doubt it. We have, after all, seen what has happened before such cares and duties were enshrined in law, so I would be surprised if you do not agree that protections ought to be in place. But of course there is a difference in being free from intimidation and hate, and having views and beliefs necessarily having to remain free from ridicule or humour in case ones 'feel insulted' for which there is no human right. There is also a difference between something that we choose (like beliefs) and those which we cannot help (such as sexuality and race) when considering the threshold of prejudice where it meets that of the demands of free speech.

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I would be surprised if you real feel that that racism is now just a 'legacy' issue being 'over-compensated for' when in fact the evidence is that, in many countries it is alive and well - and increasing. But of course, strictly speaking Islam is not a race; it is just that Islamophobia tends to be the stamping ground of racists who are, typically just as culturally conservative and proscriptive as they are racially.

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Indeed, an observation which would seem to reinforce the impression that the bans that have been recently instituted are specifically Islamophobic.

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You really are wasting your time arguing with people like Filmflan on this topic. Guy has been so conditioned by the system, it becomes pointless trying to reason with him.

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As far as he's concerned criticising Islam=racism and bigotry. And that's that.

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The irony is Muslims are the one's [sic] shooting and blowing people up in every part of the world, executing apostates and homosexuals, working to enforce their laws and practices on secular societies. Yet apparently they're the persecuted/oppressed ones we need to protect

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Thank you for not stereotyping entire religions and people in one bitter statement

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However, nobody here in Britain seems to give much of a sh!t about countries such as Saudi Arabia restricting citizenship to Muslims only. In fact, Saudi Arabia can do more or less whatever it likes without any British regressive liberals complaining about it or objecting to having their officials visiting Britain.

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The Muslim ban was based on a misguided fear of terrorism.

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The banned countries are Iran and its major allies in the region who are more hostile to US business interests than the other Middle Eastern countries

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Why has Trump banned immigration from Syria and Iraq?

The bloody war in Syria has allowed ISIS to seize large swathes of land stretching from central Iraq to northern Syria. On the campaign trail, Mr Trump vowed to bomb the hell out of ISIS and promised to end radical Islamic terrorism around the world. Brutal fighting and civil war have ripped Syria apart over the past six years, forcing millions of refugees to flee the country.
More than 400,000 people had been killed during the conflict by April 2016, according to an estimate cited by a UN envoy.
Iraq remains engulfed in political instability as it struggles to recover from the US invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Why has Trump banned immigration from Iran?

Iran has long been hostile towards the US and immediately banned American travellers in response to Mr Trumps travel ban.
During Mr Obamas time in office, relations between the countries thawed and sanctions were lifted following a nuclear deal with Iran.
But Mr Trump has branded it "the worst deal ever negotiated" and told Americans that he will either rip the deal up or seek a better agreement.

Why has Trump banned immigration from Yemen?

Mr Trumps first counterterrorism operation was a firefight with Qaeda militants in central Yemen. The US is engaged in a shadow war against Al Qaedas Yemen affiliate. Yemen's civil war broke out more than two years ago between those allied to the Houthi rebel movement and forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Why has Trump banned immigration from Somalia?

Islamist militant group al-Shabab is battling Somalias fragile UN-backed Government and has carried out terror attacks in Kenya
The Somali terrorist organisation wants to turn war-torn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state.


Why has Trump banned immigration from Libya?

ISIS terrorists have managed to gain a foothold in the Libya and even founded a stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte - Gaddafi's hometown. The Islamic militants were expelled from Sirte in December but the US is still waging war against ISIS terrorists in Libya.


Why has Trump banned immigration from Sudan?

Sudan has long been ravaged by conflict with two rounds of north-south civil wars killing an estimated 1.5 million people. Ongoing conflict in the western region of Darfur has killed more than 200,000 and forced millions more to flee their homes.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/world/761087/Donald-Trump-immigration-ban-what-seven-countries-reasons-US-banning-Muslim-travellers/amp?client=safari

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6 of the seven countries also have a ban on Israelis. Where's the liberal uproar and protests over that?

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