Where’s the Fear?

Peter King’s Obsession – NYTimes.com. Not much spreads fear and bigotry faster than a public official intent on playing the politics of division. On Thursday, Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is scheduled to open a series of hearings that seem designed to stoke fear against American Muslims. His refusal to tone down the provocation despite widespread opposition suggests that he is far more interested in exploiting ethnic misunderstanding than in trying to heal it.

Lakhdar Boumediene Starts Anew in France After Years at Guantánamo – NYTimes.com. The United States government has never acknowledged any error in detaining Mr. Boumediene, though a federal judge ordered his release, for lack of evidence, in 2008. The government did not appeal, a Defense Department spokesman noted, though he declined to answer further questions about Mr. Boumediene’s case. A State Department representative declined to discuss the case as well, except to point to a Justice Department statement announcing Mr. Boumediene’s transfer to France, in 2009.

And don't forget Wajahat Ali's Understanding Sharia Law. KARAMAH Launches Online Symposium on Shari’ah and Religious Freedom « Karamah. To complement these events, KARAMAH has compiled this online symposium, which showcases articles on the anti-Shari‘ah movement by various scholars, students and professionals. The articles are rich and diverse in their perspectives, addressing this movement from a variety of lenses: Some dispel myths about Shari‘ah and explain it from within the Islamic tradition, while others examine this movement from a civil rights perspective. A few articles reveal how the authors have been personally affected by this movement, sharing very open and…