The presidential election in the United States may be 18 months away but concern is already growing at the extent of anti-Muslim sentiments being expressed by leading Republicans seeking the party’s nomination.
Following last week’s first debate of Republican runners organised by CNN, at least two prominent groups representing mainstream American Muslims have issued statements expressing alarm at the spread of Islamophobia by those GOP candidates.
Both the Council on American-Islamist Relations (CAIR) and the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT) issued statements condemning anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by candidates during the nationally televised debate in New Hampshire.
Herman Cain, a former pizza magnate, said he would not be comfortable having a Muslim member in his administration, nor would he appoint one.
“You have peaceful Muslims and you have militant Muslims — those that are trying to kill us,” Cain said. “And so when I said I wouldn’t be comfortable I was thinking about the ones that are trying to kill us.”
Adding to the anti-Muslim fears, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, echoed a need for caution and suggested a loyalty oath for Muslims.
“There are genuinely bad people who would like to infiltrate our country,” Gingrich said. “And we have got to have the guts and stand up and say no.”
In a statement after the debate, AMT called on all Republican candidates to state clearly that they will not promote or exploit growing anti-Muslim sentiment to gain political advantage.
“When the candidates were asked ‘Are American-Muslims as a group less committed to the Constitution than, say, Christians or Jews?’ not one spoke up to support religious tolerance,” said Nihad Awad, the national executive director of CAIR.
While most remained silent, Herman Cain reiterated his position that he would treat Muslims differently than members of other faiths. Cain and Gingrich echoed the far-right manufactured controversy about Sharia replacing the Constitution.
Awad said that was simply not the case as the Constitution is the law of the land.
Bill of rights
“Muslim groups are currently at the forefront in defending the Constitution against attempts by many states to pass anti-Muslim legislation that clearly violates the Bill of rights,” Awad said.
“Our community expends enormous advocacy and legal energy defending the Constitution.”
Former pizza magnate
Herman Cain made his reputation as a fast-food executive who worked for Burger King before bringing the Godfather chain of pizzerias back from the brink of bankruptcy.
A devout Christian, Cain also serves as minister at a Baptist church in the Atlanta, Georgia suburbs where he lives. In 2006, Cain underwent extensive surgery and chemotherapy for cancer of the liver and bowel.
At one point early in his treatment, Cain expressed concern that he was being treated by a “Doctor Abdullah.”
He said his concern later vanished when he found out the doctor was, in fact, a Lebanese Christian.