{"id":2381,"date":"2025-07-11T13:49:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T18:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/coalitionforfaithandmedia\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:05:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:05:30","slug":"faith-isnt-silent-why-media-must-stop-ignoring-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/coalitionforfaithandmedia\/2025\/07\/faith-isnt-silent-why-media-must-stop-ignoring-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Isn\u2019t Silent: Why Media Must Stop Ignoring Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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In July 2025, President Trump <\/span>threatened<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>arrest and deport naturalized U.S. citizen Zohran Mamdani<\/a><\/b>, a prominent Muslim politician, after Mamdani vowed to block ICE raids in New York.\u00a0 Pictured here, <\/span>Zohran Mamdani Speaking at a DSA 101 Meeting at the Church of the Village in NYC
November 11, 2024, Image courtesy of Bingjiefu He<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Covering the Crossroads: Faith at the Center of Today\u2019s Biggest Issues
\nReclaiming the sacred voice in public discourse<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h2>\n

There is a dangerous myth in today\u2019s media landscape: that faith only shows up when it\u2019s extreme.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we turn on the news, we see religion either as a source of division or as a quiet figure in the background\u2014appearing at candlelight vigils or funerals, but absent from the rooms where policy and culture are shaped.<\/span>
\n<\/span>We hear religious leaders react, but we rarely see them lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as a Muslim woman, a faith leader, and an educator working at the intersection of community, civic engagement, and justice\u2014I can tell you:
\nFaith is not silent.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Faith is at the forefront.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Faith is at the border.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Faith is in the food banks.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Faith is in the school hallways.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Faith is in the grief\u2014but also in the joyous grind.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nAnd yet, the media too often fails to see us.<\/span><\/p>\n

This needs to change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith and Immigration: More Than a Policy Debate<\/b><\/h2>\n

Islam teaches us: <\/span>\u201cAnd do good to parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the stranger\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i> (Qur\u2019an 4:36<\/a>). The word <\/span>stranger<\/span><\/i> in Arabic, <\/span>ibn al-sabeel<\/b>, literally means \u201cthe son of the road\u201d\u2014someone displaced, vulnerable, traveling without support.<\/span><\/p>\n

In our tradition, welcoming the stranger is not optional. It\u2019s sacred.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, today\u2019s headlines tell a harsher story: <\/span>mass deportations<\/b> continue, such as the March 2025 removal of over 130 Venezuelans to El Salvador\u2014many held indefinitely without due process\u2014under an invoked wartime law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even U.S. citizens aren\u2019t exempt: ICE has wrongfully detained American-born children<\/a>, veterans, and others in sweeping raids.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S.-Born Children Deported<\/span><\/h3>\n