Tonight (April 5, 2016), I will participate in a panel discussion considering, primarily, anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. The other participants include a Catholic priest, a Rabbi, a historian of 20^th century Germany, and former official for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The panel includes a scholar of modern German history and a Rabbi because it considers, in a broader context, the “parallels” of historic anti-Semitism and modern anti-Muslim sentiment, seemingly suggesting that modern American Muslims are experiencing something similar to what German Jews experienced in the 1930s under Hitler. This seems like an odd framework for a panel discussion on anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S., as my initial thought is to instinctively dismiss the comparison. Nazi Germany and 21^st century America? Nevertheless, the prospect of taking part in an important discussion on the topic of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. with such an interesting and informed group makes it well worth enduring the framework for the discussion.

Let me consider (or think through) some related issues more fully below… Continue reading →