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Source: CNN from 2012, equally applicable in 2016

By Dean Obeidallah, Special to CNN

A Catholic priest, a rabbi, an evangelical minister, a Sikh, a Greek Orthodox archbishop and two Mormon leaders walk into the Republican National Convention.

It sounds like the beginning of a joke. But the Republican Party’s decision to invite representatives from all of these faiths to speak at this week’s convention, but to exclude a Muslim-American imam, is anything but funny.

The Republican Party has a problem with Muslims. Of course, American Muslims can take some solace in the fact that we are not the only minority group that the Republican Party hardly welcomes.

Trump, Cruz and Rubio are the 2016 Presidential candidates and this article is even more true today compared to 2012

Let’s be honest, if you don’t like Muslims, blacks, gays, immigrants or other minorities, which political party would make you feel most comfortable? Sure, some Republican officials are minorities, but a recent Galllup survey found that 89% of the Republican Party is white.

To be clear, I don’t believe that most rank-and-file members of the Republican Party hate Muslims. The problem is that certain Republican leaders have stoked the flames of hate toward American Muslims, and other minorities, as a political tool to motivate people to support their cause.

For example, recently Rep. Michele Bachmann — along with four other Republican House members — asserted that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the U.S. government. Bachmann, who is in a tough re-election battle in her redrawn congressional district, even “named names” by claiming that Secretary Hillary Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, andRep. Keith Ellison were connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Although Republican Sen. John McCain publicly denounced Bachmann’s baseless allegations, just a few weeks later, Republican Rep. Joe Walsh escalated the fear-mongering. Walsh, who is in a tight race with Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth, told constituents at a town hall meeting in the Chicago suburbs that there are radical Muslims living among them who are plotting to kill them: “One thing I’m sure of is that there are people in this country — there is a radical strain of Islam in this country — it’s not just over there — trying to kill Americans every week.” Walsh even claimed that this Muslim radical was in his district: “It’s in Elk Grove. It’s in Addison. It’s in Elgin. It’s here.”

And let’s not forget that during this year’s Republican presidential primaries, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain told voters that American Muslims want to impose Islamic law in America. It’s a truly astounding task when you consider that this would require the 2.6 million Muslims in the U.S. to overpower the other 300 million Americans and implement an Islamic legal system. Obviously, this assertion is not based on facts, but to politicians desperate for votes, facts don’t matter.

This type of rhetoric has yielded two distinct consequences. First, it can be seen in the attitudes of Republicans who have been poisoned by the anti-Muslim voices in their party. A recent poll found that 62% of Obama voters view American Muslims favorably, but only 34% of Romney voters shared that positive outlook.

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