WASHINGTON — The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined a coalition to confront scheduled Congressional hearings targeting American Muslims.
On Feb. 1, the BJC joined 50 legal, human rights and faith organizations in urging House leaders to raise concerns about planned hearings on the “radicalization” of American Muslims. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, plans to focus a hearing on homegrown terrorism, including the Fort Hood shooting and attempted Times Square bombing, both plots hatched by American-born Muslims.
The hearings are set for March 10.
Click here to download the letter sent to House leadership regarding Rep. Peter King’s scheduled hearings.
Click here to learn more about the BJC’s work confronting anti-Muslim rhetoric.
King has accused U.S. Muslim leaders of failing to cooperate with law enforcement officials and said that 80 percent of American mosques are run by extremists, a figure that Muslim leaders and scholars dispute.
“Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong,” the coalition wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “No American should live in fear for his or her safety, and Congress should not help create a climate where it is acceptable to target a particular faith community for discrimination, harassment, and violence.”
The letter asked Boehner and Pelosi to urge King to use the hearing “to address all forms of violence motivated by extremist beliefs” in a full and objective way.
Groups signing the letter include Amnesty International USA, the Interfaith Alliance, and dozens of local and national Muslim groups.
“I don’t believe it warrants an answer,” King said of the letter. “I am too busy preparing for the hearings.”
–Religion News Service and Staff Reports
