American Religious Ignorance
“Religious chauvinism flourishes along with bigotry when ignorance reigns: The less you know about other people’s religions, the more blithely you may assert the superiority of your own.”
“It seems obvious that ignorance like this enhances bigotry,” says author, lawyer and civil libertarian Wendy Kaminer. “The less people know about Islam the more likely they’ll take on faith the ravings of Islamaphobes like Pam Geller. A little less obvious, and surely less noticed, is the corrosive effect of misinformation about unpopular or demonized religions on civil liberty. Muslims may be most directly effected by post 9/11 abuses, ranging from torture and summary detentions to secret blacklisting, but imbuing the government with unaccountable power to engage in these practices poses clear and present dangers to everyone’s liberty.”
