The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released yesterday the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program in 2014 in which it noted that 17.1% of victims of hate crimes in the United States of America - 1,140 people - were victimized because of their religion.
Of these hate crimes, 56.8% targeted people of the Jewish faith; 16.1% targeted people of the Islamic faith; and 6.1% targeted people of the Catholic faith (others were also targeted). This means that 70 Catholics were victims of 64 hate crimes last year.
The number of victims of hate crimes committed out of religious motives decreased overall from the previous year. In 2013, 1,223 people were victims of hate crimes of religious motives. Of these, 60.3% targeted people of the Jewish faith; 13.7% targeted people of the Islamic faith; and 6.1% targeted people of the Catholic faith (others were also targeted).
There is something encouraging in the data collected from reports in the year 2014 when compared with that collected from the year 2013, in that there were fewer people in general - and fewer Jews and Catholics in particular - who were targeted. That said, there is also something troubling when one compares these two sets of data, in that more Muslims were victimized last year because of their faith than the year before.
This increase in attacks against Muslims is a serious cause of concern, especially at this time when almost half of the states in the union have decided not to receive any immigrants from Syria simply because the immigrants are - or might be - Muslim.
UPDATE:
Newsweek reports that the governors of half of the states of the union are refusing receive to receive Syrian immigrants and provides us with a helpful map:
If this trend - for lack of a better word - continues, I fear we will soon see a further increase in the number of hate crimes directed against Muslims in the USA, even against Muslims who do not desire to attack us. There can be a third option, a reasonable option, in the present situation amid warranted fears of jihadist attacks. We do not have either receive everyone or reject everyone.
UPDATE:
Newsweek reports that the governors of half of the states of the union are refusing receive to receive Syrian immigrants and provides us with a helpful map:
If this trend - for lack of a better word - continues, I fear we will soon see a further increase in the number of hate crimes directed against Muslims in the USA, even against Muslims who do not desire to attack us. There can be a third option, a reasonable option, in the present situation amid warranted fears of jihadist attacks. We do not have either receive everyone or reject everyone.
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