Islam is as American as...

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In Monday’s New York Times, I wrote a fairly innocuous sentence that was upsetting to some: “Islam is as American as the rodeo.”

The comments I received would not surprise anyone who writes about religion (among the printable: “Why don’t you go see ‘American Sniper’ and model yourself after a man who understood the reality of radical and not-so-radical Islam…”), but they did provide a window into the violent notions underlying the rising tide of anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Many Americans have no idea about the daily lives of people whose beliefs they fear so much. In light of yesterday’s attack on Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, three Muslim students in North Carolina, I offered a few thoughts on Twitter about just how American Islam is.