Session 10: Religious Liberty, Race & National Security
The U.S. security apparatus has long treated both racial and religious minorities as potential threats to the (white, Christian) nation. In this session, learn how national security agencies were first introduced to Islam through the surveillance and suppression of Black Muslims, how these activities have continued in new forms in the post-9/11 era, and how religious liberty protections have failed to shield minority faith groups from pervasive government persecution.
About the speakers
Sahar Aziz's scholarship examines the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities. She is the author of "The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom" and co-editor of "Global Islamophobia and the Rise of Populism." She also serves as the founding director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights. Professor Aziz is a recipient of the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools and was named a Middle Eastern and North African American National Security and Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader by New America in 2020 and a Soros Equality Fellow in 2021.
Sylvester A. Johnson is Associate Vice Provost for Public Interest Technology and Executive Director of the “Tech for Humanity” initiative advancing human-centered approaches to technology at Virginia Tech. He is the founding director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Humanities, which supports human-centered research and scholarship across disciplines in arts, humanities, and social sciences. Sylvester’s research has examined religion, race, and empire in the Atlantic world; religion and sexuality; national security practices; and the impact of intelligent machines and human enhancement on human identity and race. He is a Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture.
Key Takeaways
FBI file on the Nation of Islam (1955).
Since 9/11, American Muslims have been subject to spying, discriminatory regulation, and control by the U.S. national security apparatus. Given the U.S.’s longstanding public commitment to religious freedom, such intrusions have been justified by positioning Muslims as a racial rather than a religious group, and by treating Islam as a threatening political ideology rather than a faith. The racialization of Muslims had antecedents in the earlier treatment of religious groups like Jews, Catholics, and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Long before Muslims immigrated to the U.S. from the Middle East and North Africa in any significant numbers, the FBI and other federal and state agencies surveilled and targeted Black Muslim groups like the Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam (NOI). The FBI even created a field guide for agents on the NOI that described the religion as a violent “cult.”
Legal protections have failed to guard against violations of religious freedom in the name of national security. Religious liberty law tends to be weak in the context of immigration and national security, where agencies can point to seemingly nondiscriminatory reasons for their policies. Even where religion laws might offer some protection, cases can be stymied due to a lack of funds to hire a lawyer or the personal biases of judges.
Reflection Questions
How should national security agencies like the FBI interact with faith communities? Should surveillance be considered a form of religious discrimination? An infringement of religious liberty? Why or why not?
In this session, Prof. Aziz calls litigation the “tool of the weak.” What do you think this means? Do you agree?
Dr. Johnson spoke about the role of the media in describing some religions as “cults,” “hate groups,” or other denigrating terms. How do you see media shaping beliefs about particular religious communities today?
Rally in front of the Supreme Court during oral arguments in Trump v. Hawaii (Victoria Pickering, 2018).
Further Reading
Sahar Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religions Freedom (2021)
Sylvester A. Johnson & Steven Weitzman, eds. The FBI and Religion: Faith and National Security Before and After 9/11 (2017)
Watched this session of the curriculum and have some thoughts? We’d love to hear from you.