This is the view of a new report, entitled:  Fear, Inc. — The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, published by the Washington-based Center for American Progress.

CAP investigates how a small, well-funded group has effectively misinformed millions of Americans about Islam. The report documents how a handful of individuals have worked to fuel American fears on Islam, and tracks who has provided the funding, and how the anti-Islam message has proliferated. 

One cannot read the report without being alarmed.  It cites, for example, the manifesto of Anders Brevik, the Norwegian responsible for the killing of 76 people, which cites more than 200 references to the anti-Muslim rhetoric by American bloggers and misinformation experts.

This prompted news agencies to question the source of this distorted world view.  But the effectiveness of their anti-Islamic rhetoric has had an effect here: Twenty-three states have some kind of legislation or law to ban the nonexistent threat of Shariah law being used in their courtrooms. A 2010 Washington Post-ABC news poll showed nearly half of Americans held an unfavorable view of Islam and a 2010 Time magazine poll found 28 percent of voters do not think Muslims should sit on the US Supreme Court, while almost one-third of the country thinks that followers of Islam should be barred from running for president.

According to former CIA officer and terrorism consultant Marc Sageman, just as religious extremism “is the infrastructure from which Al-Qaeda emerged,” the writings of these anti-Muslim misinformation experts are “the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged.”

Sageman adds that their rhetoric “is not cost-free.”

CAP cites the pundits and bloggers and certain think tanks, such as the Center for Security Policy, the Middle East Forum and the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which it says:  “Together, this core group of deeply intertwined individuals and organizations manufacture and exaggerate threats of ‘creeping Shariah,’ Islamic domination of the West, and purported obligatory calls to violence against all non-Muslims by the Qur’an.

“This network of hate is not a new presence in the United States. Indeed, its ability to organize, coordinate, and disseminate its ideology through grassroots organizations increased dramatically over the past 10 years. Furthermore, its ability to influence politicians’ talking points and wedge issues for the upcoming 2012 elections has mainstreamed what was once considered fringe, extremist rhetoric,” write the authors of CAP’s report.

CAP lists the top contributors to those promoting Islamophobia in the US, saying that seven charitable groups provided $42.6 million to Islamophobia think tanks between 2001 and 2009 — funding that supports the scholars and experts that espouse fear of Islam.

“Shariah, or Muslim religious code, includes practices such as charitable giving, prayer, and honoring one’s parents—precepts virtually identical to those of Christianity and Judaism,” note the authors of the CAP report.  But certain “conservatives promote alarmist notions about a nearly 1,500-year-old religion for a variety of sinister political, financial, and ideological motives.”

CAP fingers the Center for Security Policy, as the central hub of the anti-Muslim network and an active promoter of anti-Shariah messaging and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

“Operating under the leadership of Frank Gaffney, the organization is funded by a small number of foundations and donors with a deep understanding of how to influence US politics by promoting highly alarming threats to our national security,” writes the CAP report, adding many of the “leaders of these organizations (cited by CAP) are well-schooled in the art of getting attention in the press, particularly Fox News, The Wall Street Journal editorial pages, The Washington Times, and a variety of right-wing websites and radio outlets.”

Yet such deliberate distortions of peoples are not unique to Islam.  The current efforts recall some of the darkest episodes in American history, notes the CAP report “in which religious, ethnic, and racial minorities were discriminated against and persecuted. From Catholics, Mormons, Japanese Americans, European immigrants, Jews, and African Americans, the story of America is one of struggle to achieve in practice our founding ideals. Unfortunately, American Muslims and Islam are the latest chapter in a long American struggle against scapegoating based on religion, race, or creed.”

Efforts by our leaders to make clear that Islam and Muslims are not the enemy have proved ineffective to date.  The report quote former President George W. Bush telling a roundtable of Arab and Muslim American leaders at the Afghanistan embassy in 2002: “All Americans must recognize that the face of terror is not the true face of Islam. Islam is a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. It’s a faith that has made brothers and sisters of every race. It’s a faith based upon love, not hate.”

Unfortunately, notes the CAP report: “President Bush’s words were soon eclipsed by an organized escalation of hateful statements about Muslims and Islam from the members of the Islamophobia network profiled in this report.”

The crux of the report focuses on the dangers of Islamophobia.  “It is enormously important to understand that alienating the Muslim American community not only threatens our fundamental promise of religious freedom, it also hurts our efforts to combat terrorism. Since 9/11, the Muslim American community has helped security and law enforcement officials prevent more than 40 percent of Al-Qaeda terrorist plots threatening America. The largest single source of initial information to authorities about the few Muslim American plots has come from the Muslim American community.”

But an effort to correct these distortions on Islam does not look imminent.  

The CAP report calls the Center for Security Policy “a key source for right-wing politicians, pundits, and grassroots organizations, providing them with a steady stream of reports mischaracterizing Islam and warnings about the dangers of Islam and American Muslims.”

Directed by Frank Gaffney, the report says CSP has proved successful in influencing US politics by promoting highly alarming threats to our national security.

Gaffney, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy, is also an unofficial advisor to presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, who developed a marriage vow pledge which contained a provision to oppose Shariah law.