In the wake of the recent U.S. midterms with 97 Muslims elected nationwide and a projected 100-plus total, I have witnessed a rising panic from many conservatives fearing the “Muslim takeover” of America. State-sanctioned Sharia law, mandatory hijabs and the eradication of Christianity — these are all things I have heard online in droves as the supposed direction of our country.
The glaring flaw with the logic that roughly 100 Muslim Americans winning public office will somehow result in an Islamic theocracy is, of course, the overwhelming number of Christians already holding office.
According to the Pew Research Center, 87% of voting members of the 119th Congress identified as Christian when it convened in January 2025. Christians constituted a larger percentage of Congress than of the American population itself. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a direct numerical comparison with the 97 Muslim electees, as no equivalent comprehensive count of Christian victories across all levels of government appears to exist. Apparently, Christians winning elections is simply not as noteworthy.
For some indiscernible reason, Christianity’s overwhelming dominance in American politics is treated as completely ordinary, while the election of a fraction as many Muslims is suddenly viewed as an existential threat to the American way of life — in a country whose literal first doctrine protects the free practice of religion.
What people fearful of Islam’s takeover do not understand is that the root of their fear should come from religious extremism and the erosion of the separation of church and state — not some arbitrary hatred of Islam specifically. It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned about religion bleeding into politics. But why are those concerns only being raised when a religion besides Christianity is entering the picture?
Many fearful of Islam in the U.S. have said their concern comes from how Islam is fundamentally some barbaric, misogynistic religion. And let me clarify before I digress: I am not here to debate whether Islam is any more or less of those things than Christianity. The point I want to make is that debating which religion is more oppressive misses the point entirely.
Firstly, Islam is not some bizarre, barbaric religion foreign to the Western world. Islam and Christianity are both Abrahamic religions that worship an Abrahamic god, just with different theological interpretations. Secondly (and this is not an attack on Christianity), if we judge religions by their worst interpretations and most objectionable passages, neither religion is exempt from criticism.
In 1 Timothy 2:12, women are instructed not to teach or exercise authority over men. In Leviticus 25:44–46, the acquisition and ownership of enslaved people is explicitly permitted. And these beliefs are not just hypothetical: Christianity and biblical scripture were historically used to justify American slavery for decades. Of course, someone reading this might argue that these passages have been taken out of context, that they reflect historical circumstances and cannot be interpreted literally.
That is my point. I do not think Christianity is some plague on the earth, that all Christians believe these things — obviously not. Religious texts written centuries or millennia ago contain outdated beliefs that can be interpreted, debated and applied in wildly different ways. We can pick apart scripture from the Bible or Quran and argue about historical context and the true nature of each religion, but that fact only strengthens the point that any religion can be interpreted and weaponized to justify oppression, and that Islam is not any more deserving of scrutiny or concern than other religions.
Consider Texas, where I completed most of my K-12 schooling. It passed Senate Bill 10 in 2025, requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Now, imagine if the state instead required every classroom to display the Five Pillars of Islam, or Surah Al-Fatihah.
I can only imagine the national outrage. Accusations of Islamic indoctrination, Sharia law and the destruction of American values would be unavoidable. Yet, when the religious doctrine being displayed is Christian, it is a celebration of American history and values. The concern should not be “which religion the government is promoting?”, but “why is the government promoting any religious doctrine in the first place?”
Look at Michigan’s newly elected senator, Abdul El-Sayed, who has faced countless allegations of ties to the Muslim brotherhood and demands to disavow the group despite no evidence establishing any affiliation. Why haven’t we demanded all current 86 Christian senators disavow white supremacist organizations simply because of their religion?
I am not asking anyone to dismiss religious extremism. I am saying that we cannot pick and choose which religions should automatically raise concern. If our fear is the government enforcing religious doctrine, the solution is defending the separation of church and state — not panicking when the religion in question happens to be one other than Christianity.