The framing of mosques as terror nest legitimated surveillance of religious practice

Evidence

That was the justification espoused by Congressman Peter King when he held two high-profile hearings in 2011, “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response” and “Homegrown Threat of Violent Islamic Extremist Terrorism.” As early as 2004, King proclaimed that most Muslim leaders are “enemies living amongst us.” He alleged that 80 percent to 85 percent of mosques in the United States are run by Islamic fundamentalists, a thinly veiled accusation of terrorism. The implication is obvious: mosques are not houses of worship under the purview of religious freedom protections. Rather, they are nefarious places that breed terrorists. Hence Religious Racial Muslims are legitimate targets of law enforcement scrutiny. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 818

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how designating a house of worship itself as the ‘breeding ground’ of terrorism is the legal and rhetorical move that justifies removing entire religious communities from First Amendment protection.
• XREF: connects to: Facebook’s founder frames surveillance as a redemptive global church infrastructure — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1631; State surveillance treated militant Islam as more threatening than non-violent Christianity — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 193; Law enforcement agencies operationalize the ideology that Islam is inherently violent (+8 more)