Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 13 December 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Biden-Harris Administration Releases First-Ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate | The White House

The White House is releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. The Strategy was developed through a whole-of-government collaboration with a broad range of civil society partners to describe and address the bias, discrimination, and threats Muslim and Arab Americans have long faced…The Strategy contains more than 100 Executive Branch Actions and more than 100 Calls to Action to every sector of society to prevent and address such violent attacks and to ensure that Muslim and Arab Americans enjoy the liberties and opportunities that are the bedrock of our country. With this initiative, we are creating a path for progress, in partnership with all levels of government, civil society, and the private sector, both now and over the long term.

The 67-page Strategy provides Strategic Goals for the following Priorities:

1. Increase Awareness of Hatred Against Muslims and Arabs and Broaden Recognition of These Communities’ Heritages
2. Improve Safety and Security for Muslims and Arabs
3. Tackle Discrimination and Bias Against Muslims and Arabs and Appropriately Accommodate Their Religious Practices
4. Continue to Build Cross Community Solidarity and Collective Action to Counter Hate

PDF: National-Strategy-Doc

Analyst Comments:

The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate describes “Strategic Goals” and “Ongoing Executive Branch Actions”. Members of the faith community can learn what is being done by the federal government to counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab hate.

The Strategy also has “Calls on Society”. Strategic Goal 4.2 — Continue to Expand and Mobilize Multi-Faith Partnerships calls for:

• We encourage all faith leaders to speak our publicly — and wherever possible, collectively — when anyone is attacked for their faith or religious identity. An attack on one must be treated as an attack on all.
• We encourage people of faith to develop creative initiatives to strengthen multi-faith partnerships and efforts. Such initiatives could include hosting an event to develop online solutions to counter hate, bias, and discrimination in faith communities; organizing open houses at places of worship; and developing new conflict resolution methods.
• We encourage faith leaders to educate their communities about the core American principle that people of all faiths have equal rights to religious liberty.
• We encourage faith leaders to urge their communities to speak up against hateful speech targeting faith communities, including Muslims.
• We encourage all faith leaders to continue the long and proud tradition of calling for full recognition of others’ civil and human rights.

The above calls can provide a basis for all communities of faith to counter Islamophobia.   

In May of 2023, the White House released the U.S.-National-Strategy-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf.