During the election cycle just ended, too many conservative candidates steered their campaigns in a dangerous anti-Muslim direction. They spewed nasty rhetoric on the campaign trail, damaging the image of the Republican Party and alienating voters.
Muslim Advocates released a report in October detailing the increased amount of anti-Muslim rhetoric in campaign messaging, finding it in at least 80 campaigns this cycle, 78 of them from Republicans. Half of the candidates were running for Congress, and 23 competed in the general election.
This isn’t a new development. There have been anti-Muslim conspiracies looming on the fringes for years. Some candidates across the country keep taking the bait. By doing so, they alienate faith-friendly voters who value diversity and cherish their neighbors who follow Islam.
Take Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Dave Brat, R-Va., for example. To distract voters from his indictments, Hunter used anti-Muslim messaging to portray his opponent as a threat. His opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, was a former Obama official of Mexican and Palestinian descent. Hunter would accuse Campa-Najjar of being receptive to Sharia law and looking to “infiltrate” Congress. Only one problem: Campa-Najjar is actually a Christian, and he denounces extremist beliefs.
In Virginia, Brat lost his race to former CIA operative Abigail Spanberger. He accused Spanberger of having links to terrorism, despite her years of honorable service to our country. When forced to back up his claims, he’d cite her time as a substitute teacher at an Islamic college-preparatory school as ample evidence.
If you feel the need to attack a religious community to win an election, you lack the intelligent ideas and American values to be worthy of a seat in office.
Conservative ideals are not consistent with the fear of Islam. Yes, there are Islamophobes jockeying for positions within our party, but their way cannot be the way forward for the conservative movement or the Republican Party.
This misguided political behavior will keep making us lose elections. Anti-Muslim rhetoric threatens and isolates our Muslim neighbors and is unhealthy for our party and our country. It will continue to inspire more candidates like Joe Arpaio and Roy Moore, who have proven incapable of winning anything. It will become a desperate go-to tactic for candidates like Dave Brat who find themselves falling behind. And it places a permanent stain on the proud history of the party of Lincoln.
Republicans believe in religious liberty. And we must stand for religious liberty at all times and for all religions. Religious liberty does not exist when selectively applied. Our entire history is shaped by those who fled religious persecution to build a place where they could be safe and free to worship.
Our representatives need to speak out against this hateful messaging, because in today’s angry political climate, prejudiced individuals have found a comfort zone. According to FBI data, there were 314 anti-Muslim hate crimes reported in 2017, second only to anti-Semitic hate crimes (976) in terms of hate crimes based on the victim’s religion. But according to population estimates, Jews by religion still far outnumber Muslims in the U.S roughly 2-to-1. So, that’s a lot of anti-Muslim hate crimes.
Our politics must immediately return to prioritizing truth and compassion over conspiracy and demagoguery. That’s why I’m asking our elected officials: While in the district, pay a visit to your Muslim neighbors. Talk to them. Visit a mosque, a community center, or even a cultural or religious festival to learn more about the issues your constituents face. They are your neighbors, and you’ve been selected to represent the interests of all of your constituents.
Never forget to celebrate the ideals that have already made America great — first and foremost among all of our freedoms, the freedom of religion.
Dan Granfield is an advisor to Freedom to Believe, a center-right advocacy organization promoting religious freedom for all Americans.
