Official rhetoric framing Islam as ideology licensed anti-Muslim suspicion

Evidence

Although perpetrators of anti-Muslim hate crimes and discrimination may support religious freedom, US government action and elected officials’ rhetoric assures them that suspecting Muslims is not un-American because Muslims adhere to a political ideology, not a legitimate religion. Indeed, by 2018, approximately 50 percent of Americans believed that Islam is a false religion. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 864

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-sharia bills sought to criminalize mosque attendance by defining Islam as ideology; Anti-sharia testimony framed lawful Muslim practice as a seditious, lawless threat; Monolithic framing lets Islamophobes claim predictive knowledge of all Muslims — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 274 (+15 more)