Elizabeth Shakman Hurd: This is part of a pattern at USCIRF [United States Commission on International Religious Freedom] of questioning the motives and patriotism of American Muslims. […] Why would an agency dedicated to promoting religious freedom abroad discriminate against religious minorities within the United States? For Shea and her sympathizers, since religious freedom can only be understood by Americans with “mainstream” beliefs, it can only be extended to Americans with those same beliefs. Even American Muslims who present themselves as moderates should have their motives questioned and their records examined. According to the suit, Ms. Shea wrote in an email that Ms. Ghori-Ahmad’s profession of tolerance could be dismissed as a sham because it would have been “really stupid” for her to have revealed what Shea believed must be her real views. Islam, in Shea’s mind, equals intolerance, and she was personally committed to exposing this alleged Muslim hypocrisy abroad. This is not religious freedom. This is a toxic combination of Christian supremacy and flagrant bias against Islam. In this view, “religious freedom” is anything but a pluralist mission to make the world safe for different ways to be religious; it means, rather, a mission to protect American majority religious interests from perceived threats from minority religious traditions. More here.