[BOB] ABERNETHY: What are the major causes as you see them of the anti-Muslim feeling that\u2019s going on now?<\/p>\n
{PROFESSOR SCOTT] APPLEBY [of the UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME]: Well, we have to realize that one thing that\u2019s similar to other periods in our nation\u2019s history of nativism, of attacks against people perceived as foreign, whether they are from another nation or another religion, what\u2019s in common is we\u2019re in an economic crisis. These episodes flare up when Americans are feeling displaced or threatened that their economic well-being and even their citizenship is somehow called into question by a threatening minority. And, of course, Islam in America is a tiny, tiny minority. Why pick on Islam? Because for nine years, almost a decade, the popular mentality is we\u2019re in some kind of war with Islam, which of course is a distorted reading that\u2019s not sufficiently shouted down by the right people. We are not in a war with Islam. We are in a conflict with a tiny minority of radicals who are denounced by the majority of Muslim leaders and Muslims around the world.<\/p>\n
ABERNETHY: Do you think that there is some justification, however, for thinking that there is something about Islam itself that condones or perhaps even encourages violence?<\/p>\n
APPLEBY: No, there\u2019s nothing about Islam itself that makes Islam stand apart from other religions.<\/p>\n