Violence, terrorism, and concerns about security continued to dominate the news this week, and world leaders continued wrestling over how to deal with it all. In the wake of Paris and other terrorist attacks, many Islamic minorities in Europe and the US are reporting a rising backlash against them. In response, Muslims around the world have launched a “Not in My Name” campaign against terrorism. Here in the US, several religious groups criticized GOP candidates for anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign trail. The Council on American-Islamic Relations accused Donald Trump and others of “stoking Islamophobia.” This week, the 10,000 member American Academy of Religion (AAR) also expressed concern. At their annual meeting in Atlanta, the religion scholars called on all Americans to reject divisive speech about Muslims:

PROF. THOMAS TWEED (Outgoing AAR President): There’s already talks about tracking folks, and anybody with any historical memory will be worried about that. If we’re starting monitoring who is the right kind of religious insider, bad things happen.”