The American religious muddle
The First Amendment famously guards against a government "establishment of religion," while simultaneously protecting "the free exercise thereof." But it says nothing about private religious biases, which are widespread and play an interesting political role in modern America.
Anti-Muslim bias, and anti-anti-Muslim bias, have been all over the news. Only about three weeks ago, Islamic State-inspired terrorists slaughtered 14 Americans in San Bernardino, an attack that followed hot on the heels of the murder of 130 people in Paris. But within days, horror over these Islamist attacks was replaced by horror over Donald Trump's silly call for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." Trump's bluster somehow managed to recast Islam as the innocent victim of San Bernardino.
