I wish more Americans had an opportunity to get to know Muslims. Then they would not be susceptible to the silly anti-Muslim propaganda that is floated by some right-wing Christians.
Muslims are good folks. One fellow e-mailed me quite convinced that Muslims lop off the heads of every infidel they meet. I've been a guest in the homes of many Muslim friends, and the only thing they lopped off were extra servings of lamb.
People believe such nonsense because they are ignorant of the facts. The oldest Christian community my travels in Muslim countries, sometimes among the poorest of the poor, I was never panhandled or attacked. As far as crime goes, you'll find cities like Beirut or Damascus or Amman or Ramallah much safer than most American cities.
Islam is not a religion with a hierarchy such as the Roman Catholic Church. In that respect, Muslims are much like Southern Baptists, only more so. Any group of Muslims can build a mosque and hire themselves an imam, or teacher. They are independent. There is no Muslim pope or College of Cardinals. There are no bishops. When an imam somewhere issues a fatwa, which is a sort of formal opinion on a subject, it is not binding. Like Protestant Christians, Muslims interpret their holy writings themselves and consider themselves answerable directly to God - or, to be an effort to get to know Muslims. You'll find that they don't fit the stereotypes created by mean-spirited propaganda or superficial news coverage.
Racism is a monstrous injustice because it imposes a stereotype on millions of innocent individuals. The only real solution is education and broad experience. It seems to me that God creates individuals one at a time, and it is the human mind that insists on grouping and classifying them. We should resist that temptation.