When Americans express concern about religious extremism and violence, they almost always are thinking about Islam. The problems posed by the politicization and weaponization of religion, however, are deeper, more widespread, and more dangerous.
Several years ago, I moderated a panel discussion on "Using Religion to Justify Violence." The panelists, which included former government officials and prominent media analysts, focused their remarks exclusively on Islam.
When it was my turn to ask questions of the speakers, I attempted to broaden the conversation, asking pointed questions about: then-President George W. Bush's penchant for saying that in executing the war against Iraq he was carrying out "God's will;" or the growing threat of white "Christian militias" operating in remote areas of the US; or the Christian evangelical movement's belief that Israel's conquest of Palestinian land and oppression of Palestinians was justified by biblical prophecy. The panelists would have none of it and treated my questions as merely a distraction from their discussion of Islam and Muslims.
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