Islamophobia must be recognized for what it is, a social cancer as unacceptable as anti-Semitism, a threat to the very fabric of our democratic, pluralistic way of life.
The line that distinguishes Islam from those who commit violence and terror in the name of Islam – between the majority of mainstream Muslims and the acts of a minority of Muslim terrorists – must be maintained.
Blurring these distinctions risks the adoption of foreign and domestic policies that promote a clash rather than co-existence of cultures and threaten the rights and civil liberties of Muslims.
John Esposito writes in response to the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy.