Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship

Evidence

During the naturalization era, immigrants seeking citizenship were bound by the prerequisite of being found to be “free white persons” by a civil court. However, what defined whiteness was not allowed to extend beyond Christianity, and especially Protestantism, and Islam stood as its rival and thus was considered irreconcilable with whiteness. Therefore, up until 1944, Muslim identity precluded one from being deemed white by law and therefore eligible for citizenship. Furthermore, the Naturalization Act of 1790 also curbed the migration of Muslims to the United States, as they were largely aware of the opposition their religious identity would spur at ports of entry like Ellis Island. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 150

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core mechanism linking the racial and religious construction — this is the machinery of how a religion became racialized against citizenship.
• XREF: The religion-to-race move here parallels Rana’s account of the Muslim as racialized American and Selod’s work on surveillance. — connects to: The link between whiteness, race, and Christianity was founded in the Middle Ages.; Racial minorities lacked any constitutional shield comparable to religious freedom; MAGA functioned as a racial plea tied to whiteness as legal citizenship touchstone — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 63 (+21 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 150

Broader Connections

• Citizenship in America has historically been tied to whiteness and Christianity #corroborates (0.85)
• A religious identity coded as non-white could legally bar naturalization. #corroborates (0.85)
• Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges #expands (0.75) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 261
• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. #expands (0.75) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 123
• Whiteness was defined through exclusion of non-black immigrant groups too. #expands (0.70)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #complicates (0.70)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #corroborates (0.70)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing #expands (0.65)
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America #expands (0.60)