Ohio’s Muslim, Arab neighbors: Steven M. Dettelbach | cleveland.com

Islamophobia is Real, Mr. Mayor—A New York City Muslim Explains | Religion Dispatches. In fact, one of the amazing elements of Islamophobia is the denial of its own existence—as Nathan Lean explains. In his article, Lean also offers several examples of the impact Islamophobia has had on the lives of Americans; Wajahat Ali has written about the fear and death that an Islamophobic environment sanctions; Erik Love gives us sociological background on the impact of Islamophobia. I want to offer a reflection of what a New York Muslim sees and hears as Islamophobia becomes so normalized that it becomes an institution.

Article | First Things. Though popular with secularists and religious conservatives, anti-Sharia legislation does not defend against theocracy but calls into question our society’s fundamental commitments to meaningful religious liberty and meaningful access to the courts. These commitments have been relied on by generations of Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews, and to try to remove them for Muslims both is unjust to Muslims and sets a dangerous precedent for other religious groups.

The bravery of a young Staten Island hate crime victim | SILive.com. Ganging up on a helpless special needs kid because his family is Muslim may not walk or quack like a typical hate crime, especially when one of these alleged gems is black and his three alleged beloveds are Hispanic.  Don’t look now, alleged parents, but the apples of your eyes are cheesing in the same big picture with skinheads, the junior Klan and the rest of the Hitler youth.  Too bad your alleged whiz kids cut history class. They missed the lesson that taught about a time when…