Why Hasn't Ted Cruz Canceled this Islamophobic Hearing Yet?

In May, the U.S. Senate scheduled a hearing titled "Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America" that threatened to escalate anti-Muslim fearmongering and disinformation in the halls of Congress. As Interfaith Alliance explained in a draft testimony submitted to the committee, this hearing is not a good-faith inquiry into national security or constitutional law, but rather is the latest in a long, troubling line of government-sponsored attacks designed to plant fear and conspiracy theories about an entire religious community for political purposes. 

While this hearing was seemingly held to address a real national security thread, it offered no evidence to substantiate why this was needed in the first place. Indeed, this hearing was happening in the context of a documented rise in anti-Muslim bigotry through a coordinated campaign to manufacture hate and division. Our colleagues at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding gathered resources from across the field to illustrate the harm these types of hearings represent.   

That same week, two teenagers opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing three people and illustrating the deadly consequences of hateful rhetoric. This violent attack was born out of this escalated hateful movement across social media, political campaigns, and the halls of Congress. When political leaders and public officials promote Islamophobic ideas, they normalize a discourse that has a potential to lead to real violence. 

This hearing’s focus on Texas’s recent designations of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as terrorist organizations must be understood in that context. These designations are not the product of credible national security analysis; they are the product of the same conspiracy infrastructure that has targeted Muslim communities, organizations and leaders for decades. Using a state government’s legally uncertain actions as the premise for a federal Senate hearing only amplifies that harm.

Although it is telling that Sen. Ted Cruz saw fit to postpone the hearing in the wake of the horrific attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego, a postponement is not enough. Sen. Cruz must cancel this hearing for good.

Over a month later, the Senate has still not officially canceled the hearing. Religious freedom has never been perfectly realized in this country, but it has always been an abiding principle. A religious freedom that excludes an entire faith community is not religious freedom at all. This Subcommittee has an obligation to that standard. Contact Sen. Cruz today and complete our action alert to demand he cancel this hearing for good.

The views and beliefs expressed in this post and all Interfaith Alliance blogs are those held by the author of each respective piece. To learn more about the organizational views, policies, and positions of Interfaith Alliance on any issues, please contact [email protected].