The Sharia Paranoia Industry is very lucrative - 2011-08-26

The Sharia Paranoia Industry is very lucrative August 26, 2011, Adam Serwer, Washington Post

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The Sharia Panic Industry is a 42 million dollar business.

That's according to a new report from the Center for American Progress, which tracks the funding sources of America's most prominent Islamophobes. Over the past ten years, that money has flowed from primarily from seven foundations: The Donors Capital Fund; the Richard Mellon Scaife Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation and Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust; the Russell Berrie Foundation, the Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund and the Fairbrook Foundation.

This funding has allowed the Islamophobic right to amplify and mainstream an anti-Muslim message that remained on the fringe while President George W. Bush urged a message of tolerance. Think tanks like Frank Gaffney's Center for Security policy have used the funding to produce reports promoting the myth that most Muslim Americans are conspiring to replace the Constitution with Sharia law. It's helped people like attorney David Yerushalmi design anti-sharia legislation being pushed in at least 23 states, in four of which those the bans have actually passed. It's helped anti-Muslim writers like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, cited frequently by alleged anti-Muslim Oslo terrorist Anders Breivik, promote and sustain their work.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | author = Adam Serwer | title = The Sharia Paranoia Industry is very lucrative | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-sharia-paranoia-industry-is-very-lucrative/2011/03/04/gIQALiKIgJ_blog.html | work = Washington Post | date = August 26, 2011 | accessdate = March 2, 2019 }}