The far-right conservative fear of a Muslim takeover is a real one. They believe if Muslims gain a foothold in a community or are elected to office Sharia Law will be forced on the American public through public policy and in some ways it’s understandable why they believe that.
In the current political environment, we’re seeing more and more Muslims rising to political positions across America. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, Keith Ellison, Congressman and Attorney General in Minnesota, Andre Carson and Lateefah Simon both elected to Congress, Zohran Mamdani mayor of New York City just to name a few. As of this writing in Michigan a very popular Muslim named Abdul El-Sayed just won a Senate seat, beating Mike Rogers. El-Sayed made history becoming the first Muslim to occupy a seat in the Senate. This has conservative Americans across the country in a state of four-alarm-fire panic.
And it should, if you think like a conservative.
The reality of far-right conservative thinking is this: it’s the belief that their religion is supreme therefore they are entitled to have their religion woven into civil law. The most common argument of this privilege is that Christians founded this country therefore they are entitled to make the laws most reflective of their religion. Another conservative argument is that since Christianity is in the majority in this country their religion should be endorsed by the government. Conservative politicians, with the support of their conservative constituents, are constantly trying to use the government to promote and endorse their religion by posting Christian scripture on government properties like schools and courts. Go to any official Republican social media site, or most Republican congresspersons’ official social media site and you will find the posting of Christian scripture, they openly celebrate only Christian (and occasionally Jewish, this is for another discussion) holidays and use their platform to endorse Christian doctrine. With that extreme sense of entitlement, and with the example set by conservatives of legislating with their bible, is it any wonder that they feel threatened by anyone with a different religious background gaining a seat at the table in American politics?
In contrast, the example shown by the Democratic Party is starkly different. Democratic persons in Congress and official Democratic run social media pages do not post scripture of any religion. During the holidays they post a greeting of well-wishes to all the major religions during their respective holiday seasons.
To put it simply, the highest law in the land forbids the establishment of any religion. It’s a contract between the government and the self-governing American people, past, present and future. No religion supersedes the U.S. Constitution. Not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim. None. At no point in the Constitution is there a written endorsement of any religion, mention of any God (with the exception of noting the year); and in fact, the very first amendment declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
No leader in a self-governing society should lead or legislate with their religion; they should not engage in conspicuous displays of worship while on the chamber floor. This includes taking the oath of office on a religious writing. El-Sayed intends to take the oath of office on a Quran. I understand why he would want to do that, but he shouldn’t. There is no law or rule that dictates what the oath will be taken on; a person can be sworn into office with his or her hand on a box of Count Chocula. But the oath of office should be taken with one’s hand on the U.S. Constitution only.
In the case of El-Sayed he has declared more than once that he intends to view the U.S. government and his role in it from a secular point of view. We can all thank whatever God we pray to he was elected because it’s a statement one can say about almost no conservative politicians. Certainly not Mike Rogers; he may say it when cornered, but he clearly doesn’t mean it. This is evident when one considers the ignorant, racist and bigoted campaign Rogers ran against El-Sayed, using his opponent’s religion to constantly and falsely tie the El-Sayed to terrorism. Rogers also refused to denounce the racist anti-Muslim support of President Trump and other prominent Republicans. According to an article in PBS News and the Associated Press published on Oct 25, 2026, “Trump called El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists” and would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.” Rogers underestimated the level of intelligence in Michigan voters. Maybe a better strategy would have been to talk about the issues and leave the religious bigotry out.
