Republican fearmongering about Muslims and Sharia Law is generating plenty of pushback from Democrats and civil rights groups across the country, but next to nothing from GOP leaders in Congress.
Islamophobic rhetoric is on the rise as conservative members of Congress face primary and midterm elections amid deteriorating economic conditions, unpopular immigration policies and a war with Iran.
Christmas greeting card from Andy Ogles and family.
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has been among the more outspoken in claiming “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” He introduced legislation to ban Muslims from several Islamic nations living in the United States.
“We know this kind of rhetoric leads to more bullying in school, discrimination in the workplace, hate crimes and vandalism against mosques,” said Sabina Mohyuddin, executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council in Tennessee, in an NPR report. “But it is an election year and these politicians believe if they spew this hateful rhetoric, they are going to get more votes.”
Randy Fine
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., so far has refused to condemn Ogles or U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who told a Muslim on social media to “Go blow yourself up” and claimed “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” Other Republicans have remained silent about the statements, and Johnson dismissed them as simply a concern held by many people.
“There’s a lot of energy in the country and a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem — that’s what animates this,” Johnson said. “It is not about people as Muslims.”
However, there has been some pushback here and there from Republicans, NPR reported.
“I have many Muslim constituents, neighbors and friends who have contributed greatly to our community and country, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. “Freedom of religion is a pillar of our nation, and broad brush statements like this are offensive and completely inappropriate.”
Gregg Nunziata
The embrace and spread of Islamophobia by congressional Republicans contradicts the tactics that helped push them to victory in 2024, said Gregg Nunziata, executive director of Society for the Rule of Law and a former policy counsel for the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
“I think the failure to condemn this is morally cowardly, but it’s also politically shortsighted,” Nunziata explained. “The MAGA movement and the coalition that elected Donald Trump itself was pluralistic. Republicans had a good election year in part because they significantly expanded their support in minority communities and communities that have traditionally not been open to Republicans.”
Opposition among Democrats and civil rights activists has focused on the hypocrisy and danger of the hatred being spread by Republicans.
The irony is that Republicans falsely warn about the Islamification of America while they are in fact supporting the Christian nationalist effort to change the country from a democracy to a theocracy, said U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. during a recent congressional hearing. “We’ve got members of this body who vehemently denounced Sharia law, but also agree with Louisiana and Texas that we should be posting the Ten Commandments of some particular sectarian variety up in the schools.”
Raskin noted some congressional Republicans have suggested posting the Commandments in the halls of Congress and in all public buildings. “I told them the Ten Commandments have been doing fine for millennia without an endorsement by the Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives.”
Besides, Supreme Court precedent is clear that laws that target Islam or any other religious tradition are unconstitutional, Raskin said. “You can’t pass a law that targets a specific religion. Justice Kennedy called it ‘religious gerrymandering.’”
Jamie Rashkin
Raskin assured Republicans any fears they have about Islam trying to assume power in the U.S. will not pass legal muster.
“Anything legitimate that our colleagues want to say about preventing the imposition of Sharia Law in America is already accomplished by the Establishment Clause. So, everybody can rest easy with Thomas Jefferson’s wall of separation between church and state that he identified in his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists.”
One of the problems with the Republican rhetoric is that “there is no there, there,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa. “But their view seems to be, as long as they can scapegoat someone or something for political gain, who cares, right? And it’s entirely clear they don’t care at all whether fellow Americans or others end up collateral damage to the anti-Muslim hatred and fear they stoke.”
The American Muslim Advisory Council held Ogles up as a prime example of that kind of cynical scapegoating.
“Congressman Andy Ogles appears to be attempting to distract constituents from his failure to deliver meaningful solutions on issues that Tennesseans care about — such as affordable health care and rising costs — by resorting to hateful rhetoric about Muslim Americans and immigrants,” the group said.
This is nothing new, the council added. “The use of bigoted and racially coded tropes is not only irresponsible, it echoes language that has historically been used to marginalize many communities, including African Americans.”
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