Countering Islamophobia works best by demanding equal ground rules rather than defending Islam itself

Evidence

Increasingly, opponents of anti-Muslim ideologues are realizing that the most effective way to defend Muslims and Islam is to insist that all public debate conform to the same ground rules that apply to discussions of Jews and Christians. … No attempt was made to defend or even to explain Islamic belief and practice, much less “honor killings.” The object of critique was not a specific misrepresentation of Islam, but ignorance, racism, bigotry, and cynical attempts to mobilize the right-wing base of the Republican Party. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 713

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the counterintuitive strategy of secularizing Muslim self-defense — refusing to play defense on religious grounds and instead reframing the debate around civic norms.
• XREF: connects to: Demands to assimilate Muslims logically require excising Islam itself — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 296