American Muslims are making authentic efforts to interweave their religious beliefs with American culture, but these efforts are undermined by broad-brush portrayals of all Muslims as either incapable of rational discourse or, worse, nothing more than the enemy.

The latest outbreaks of paranoia and anti-Muslim sentiment around the construction of new mosques, particularly the one proposed in lower Manhattan, is propelling American society down the same road it has traveled many times before, to its own detriment.

Pakistan’s recent censoring of Facebook in response to an “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day” campaign is deeply flawed, protecting the wrong party and providing the wrong incentives. It appeases, rather than controls, extremists and gives them license to react violently.

As long as speech is not directly connected with imminent, violent action, for those who sincerely believe that what they are preaching is part of their faith, having to curtail it for no other reason than the threat of prosecution is an infringement of their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.