This is according to The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board, writing about the recent anti-Muslim remarks by the state’s Republican officials and lawmakers:

It’s hard to believe we have reached a place where Texas’ GOP lawmakers are talking openly about making life “miserable” for Muslims.

This antidemocratic, unconstitutional bigotry wouldn’t have been accepted just a few years ago.

Today, it’s become the blueprint of a legislative agenda to stop what they are calling the “Islamification of Texas” (where less than 2% of people are Muslim).

The proposals got some daylight at a recent conference held by the far-right group True Texas Project, our newsroom reported. Incendiary proposals from state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, and state Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, were of particular note.

Hall said that stopping Sharia should be the state’s top priority. Really? Sharia is a religious framework that guides Muslims’ moral and spiritual conduct. It’s been abused by terrorists as a distortion of the way the vast majority of Muslims live and practice their faith. And, yes, it has no place in Texas law. Guess what? It already has no place in Texas law.

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Still, some officials and candidates are using the term to insist Muslims are imposing religious practices as a replacement for civil law in their communities. If that’s true, show the evidence. Much like voter fraud claims that charge up the electorate, no one is actually delivering the goods on these allegations.

Meanwhile, folks like Hopper are leapfrogging even a claim to legitimate concerns about the mix of religion and law and going straight to open bigotry. Hopper said lawmakers are already discussing ideas to make Muslims’ lives “miserable.”

Imagine using that kind of language against any other faith or people? It’s completely out of line and utterly contemptible.

Other outrageous ideas include shuttering Islamic charter schools and refusing to issue professional licenses to Muslims. Never mind that these anti-Muslim proposals run afoul of constitutional protections for religious freedom. Will Hindu schools be next? Jewish? Catholic?

We got a preview last week of how this fearmongering is working. At a McKinney City Council meeting over a mosque site plan, attendees were banging on windows, shouting at speakers and carrying signs like “Stop Islamic Invasion” or “Don't Sharia Texas.” Former Mayor George Fuller was physically confronted and booed out of the meeting. Over what? Not even a new mosque but one that has been part of the community for decades planning an expansion.

During public comments, U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, framed Islam as a political ideology, not as a religion, disregarding a clear constitutional guarantee. Residents who have lived in McKinney for decades had to hear their faith and their place in the community called into doubt.

Using cultural wedges to amplify anxieties is an old but reliable political formula. It only leads to destruction.

Source: dallasnews.com