Lisa Gabriel from Ohio called into a talk show on the day that the topic was “Islam and Muslims.” She asked, with indignation, “how come everywhere in the world it is Muslims who are terrorists?” She listed the attack on the World Trade Center, on the theater in Moscow, on the hotel owned by an Israeli in Kenya, on the nightclub in Bali. The talk show host and the “experts” he had assembled were embarrassed by the tone of her question and gave versions of the stock answer: Islam is a religion of peace and the vast and overwhelming numbers of Muslims are peaceful folk.

It is amazing to me that no one could say to the caller that, first of all, Russian security agencies killed almost all of the people that died in the Moscow theater; secondly, that in the U.S. retaliation on the Taliban at least as many Afghans were killed as U.S. citizens were on September 11th. More importantly, one can go to many regions in the world and see conflict—Venezuela, India, Sri Lanka, Israel/Palestine—where the blame for violence must be shared by the state. Someone on the talk show could easily say that in most places in the world, it is the state which organizes violence.

Nonetheless, I believe that many Americans believe what the caller Lisa Gabriel believes. That it is Muslims who are causing trouble everywhere in the world. Even the Attorney General subscribes to such a view. He has said on public record that Islam is a religion that demands sacrifices from its adherents whereas Christianity is a religion that sacrifices itself for its believers.

It is not surprising that he is among the leaders of the administration that has targeted the nationals of Muslim countries residing in the United States for the registration law.