The government sponsored Orientalist conferences to weaponize religion

Evidence

The Orientalists who helped shape this strategy were convinced that the secular ideologies of nationalism and communism would hold little weight in the “Muslim world.” At a conference organized and sponsored by the government at Princeton University in 1953, Orientalists, policymakers, and various native informants concluded that the United States must use religion to win hearts and minds, ignoring the popularity of secular nationalist movements. US propaganda efforts at the time thus emphasized the Christian and religious roots of American culture in contrast to the godlessness of the USSR. The National Security Council reasoned in 1952 that the “three monotheistic religions in the area have in common a repugnance to the atheism of communist doctrine and this factor could become an important asset in promoting Western objectives in the area.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 226

Categorization

• XREF: State knowledge-production — connects to Grosfoguel on how imperial frames are produced. — connects to: Orientalism began as discourse before hardening into material institutions and state policy. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 160; The Middle East itself is a product of Orientalist construction. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161; The War on Terror weaponizes an invented Orientalist past to victimize Muslims today (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The state perpetuates Islam-violence associations to justify expanding its authority #corroborates (0.70)
• Orientalists reframed Islam as a political system rather than a religion. #expands (0.50)
• Orientalism supplied the pre-existing tropes that the War on Terror redeployed against Muslims #corroborates (0.50)
• Orientalism reshaping into new policy forms outlifted eroding legal restrictions #corroborates (0.40) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 198