Texas Conservatives Plan Restrictions on Muslim Schools and Halal Food

Conservative lawmakers in Texas have laid out a plan to make life miserable for the Muslim community within the Lone Star State. The details emerged on Saturday during the "Don't Sharia My Texas" panel at the Texas Faith Fest, where politicians discussed restricting services they labeled as coming from a "hostile alien civilization." Some of the specific ideas floated included stopping vouchers from reaching Islamic schools, barring public institutions like prisons from serving halal food, and shutting down loudspeakers that broadcast calls to prayer. State Rep Keresa Richardson said it plainly: 'The more uncomfortable they are the better.'

Muslims currently make up only about two percent of Texas's population, yet they have become a frequent target in state politics ever since a Dallas-area mosque announced plans last year for a "Muslim-centric" neighborhood. Governor Greg Abbott spoke out against that project immediately, ordering various state agencies to investigate it. He followed that move with calls for funding freezes and investigations into airports that built facilities for Muslim pre-prayer washing. Then, at the Republican National Convention in Dallas last month, Abbott vowed to 'fully ban sharia law in Texas.'

The controversy intensified as other lawmakers joined the panel discussion on Saturday, stating they were offended by both the number of Muslims living in Texas and the tenets of their faith. Wise County Republican Representative Andy Hopper told the crowd: 'We are basically being extorted by a hostile civilization, hostile alien civilization whose intent is to do nothing less but undermine our founding principles.' He argued that legislators must have the responsibility to 'peel out all of these little infestations of ideas that are contrary to our way of life' by ensuring students learn 'how awful Islam is.'

State Representative Brent Money also suggested banning public institutions, specifically prisons, from providing any religiously-required food. That proposal would effectively ban kosher offerings for Jewish people as well. Richardson later floated the idea of banning public broadcasts of the call to prayer. She explained her stance to the Houston Chronicle: 'I'm not telling you you can't pray five times a day, but just don't, don't disrupt the rest of us while you do it.'

All the lawmakers acknowledged that federal law protects Muslims' freedom to practice their religion. They told the Chronicle that these policies would apply equally to people of all faiths. Wise County Republican Representative Andy Hopper called Muslims a 'hostile civilization,' and State Representative Brent Money suggested banning religious food in public institutions. Yet, legal analysts warn these proposals could face significant hurdles. Elizabeth Reiner Platt, director of the Law, Rights and Religion Project at Union Theological Seminary, said the ban on halal food would conflict with a 2000 law signed by former President Bill Clinton. That statute bars prisons from stopping someone from practicing their religion unless officials show they are doing so in the least restrictive manner possible to further a compelling state interest.

Francis Beckwith, a philosophy professor at Baylor University, suggested a ban on public prayer broadcasts might survive legal scrutiny if applied equally to all faiths. 'But if it permits prayers of other faiths while excluding Muslim prayers, the policy is unlikely to survive judicial scrutiny,' he said, noting US Supreme Court decisions prohibit the government from singling out specific religions with special restrictions. Platt countered that the proposed policy would be unconstitutional even without explicit targeting because the lawmakers have made their goal clear: they want to suppress Muslim prayer calls specifically. 'There's a distinction between a neutral noise ordinance and a law that is intentionally crafted to suppress a particular religious exercise or religious community,' she said. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken aim at Muslims in the state ever since a Dallas-area mosque shared its plans to build a 'Muslim-centric' neighborhood last year.

A man appears in photos from last month's Republican National Convention, yet the conversation shifted dramatically on Saturday when panelists began questioning if Islam even qualified as a religion worthy of protection. Money opened the debate by stating there is a very real need to discuss whether Islam counts as a faith or something else entirely. John Bean, who serves on the Texas Values board, later told The Chronicle that many people believe Islam is a religion and that belief has allowed it to gain traction under current freedom of religion laws. But Bean drew a hard line by claiming the Quran orders followers to kill all non-Muslims. Mainstream Muslim scholars push back against this view, arguing those passages refer specifically to military conflicts rather than issuing a broad call for violence. Bean said his ultimate goal is to make life so unbearable and unwelcome for them that they want to leave on their own. That is the end result he seeks.