For the most part, Muslims in America have not had to endure hate crimes on account of the terrorism committed by other Muslims in the world. It's not as if they have been completely immune to bigotry and violence, but incidents have generally been few and far between. Unfortunately, that won't be much comfort to a woman beaten in Florida because of her Islamic headscarf.

WKMG in Florida reports on what happened to the owner of a jewelry kiosk at a mall in Tampa

[S]he was physically and verbally assaulted by three people who told her to "get out of (America)" and said her religion is "hateful and violent." ... During the assault, one of the attackers allegedly grabbed the victim's throat and attempted to remove her head scarf. The perpetrators fled when the victim ran to find mall security officers.

There are a couple of interesting things I'd like to point out about this. First there is the obvious irony of three people ganging up on and attacking a lone woman while accusing her of following a "violent" religion. It seems that, for some people, reality if a purely optional aspect of life.

Second is the fact that they would use the phrase "hateful and violent" to describe Islam. The assertion that she should "get out" of America is common to bigots, but the other statement is a little less common. I doubt that the three are scholars who have studied Islam. So where did they get the idea that Islam is "hateful and violent"? Good question. Who keeps using those terms to describe Islam generally? Why, conservative and evangelical commentators. Curious, isn't it?

Read More:

• Religious Right
• Christian Extremism
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Evangelicalism
• Recent Books on Islam
• Islam
• What is Jihad?
• Islam, Violence, and Terrorism
• Islamic Extremists