Presented by UCSB Department of Religious Studies, Center for Middle East Studies, Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, and Center for Cold War Studies and International History.

America’s Muslims have become a flashpoint for public debate about freedom of religion, freedom of speech, civil rights, and U.S. relations with Muslim majority countries in the Middle East and Asia. Recently there has been an outcry about the propriety of building an Islamic center (called a mosque in the media) near the site of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. There also appears to be a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents around the country, including threats to stage burnings of the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an.  Four UCSB faculty experts from the departments of Religious Studies and History will discuss and assess these developments with an aim to enhance public understanding of the issues involved and their consequences. 

The panel features Juan E. Campo (Religious Studies) on the meaning and functions of mosques and the Qur’an in the eyes of Muslims and non-Muslims, Richard Hecht (Religious Studies) on Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, Kathleen Moore (Religious Studies) on the Manhattan Islamic Center and the law, and Salim Yaqub (History) on the implications anti-Muslim incidents might hold for U.S. foreign policy. Wade Clark Roof (J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society, Director of the Walter H. Capps Center) will be the panel convener and respondent.