My initial response to the given materials is to reflect upon the large Islamophobic but also general anti-theist ‘Athiest +’ online movement that happened whilst I was a young teen. The ‘Athiest +’ movement was a large online subculture that focused on actively trying to ‘debate people out of their faith and belief’ and would deny the links to faith and culture, race, and the structure of the family unit. The movement thankfully died rather quickly but at the time it made quite a bit of damage- for example, see the large-scale mockery of religion in shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ or ‘Family Guy’ and how that, when combined with the horrific Islamophobic mindset post 9/11 created a severe hostile world for religous people but especially POC muslim women.
Muslim women take the brunt of the intersectional abuse as they’re often seen as ambassadors to the faith- see this list of assaults and murders post 9/11- https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/usahate/usa1102-04.htm
But as time has gone on, have we really worked on the prejudice openly religious people face? As mentioned women who require their hair to be covered struggle in professional athletic settings due to prejudice and dealing with backlash from within their communities and often face setbacks in their athletic careers due to this.
How can we help to minimize this in an academic setting? For students to maximise their education, we need to foster an inclusive and considerate space- within my own classroom, I know our campus is lucky enough to have a prayer room and we have a multi-faith staff base. But growing from that, what else can I change or accommodate? I feel, in general, having more child care facilities or, ideally, having a government-led childcare funding for all students would be a great and meaningful way for more women to study and remain in faith-driven communities. On a more micro level (i.e what I can personally do), perhaps starting small and making sure my language is more accommodating, for example, checking myself to not use any accidental anti-religious reflective cursing for example ‘Jesus!’ or ‘God Damn It’ might be a good way to remain mindful as a staff member.
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