Painting immigrants with broad brushes
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #7
March 16, 2026
Painting immigrants with broad brushes
The first congregation that I pastored was in Hoboken, NJ. Originally it had been a German speaking congregation. When I arrived in the 1980’s, there were a number of older German women. Some of whom immigrated before and after World War I. One of these women told me that the Lutheran Church in town had a scandal in World War I. The Lutheran minister had sympathy toward the Germans and became a German spy. He would note the types and numbers of military ships at the Hoboken port and, like Paul Revere, would put an appropriate number of lanterns in the church steeple to inform German agents the number and nature of these military ships.
This minister was eventually caught and went to jail. Both the Lutheran Church, and the German-speaking Reformed Church, suffered because of this. Many citizens were calling for the deportation of Germans, which would have devastated both congregations. Many people could not distinguish between patriotic German Americans and traitorous German Americans. When we get frightened, we tend to use a broad brush.
This pattern, I am told, repeated itself during World War II. There was a Bund association in Northern Hudson County and true Nazi sympathizers were active. The calls to deport or incarcerate German Americans became loud once more. “Liberty Avenue” was a cross street near my childhood home. Old timers told me that the street had been “Germaine Place” before the war but was renamed “Liberty” during the war.
The 1960’s were a bit crazy for us who lived in cities with African American populations. The Black Panthers got a lot of press coverage for fighting back against what they perceived as police brutality against them. As the headlines spread, many white people viewed black people suspiciously. They asked if they were all Black Panthers and were all Blacks violent. Fear causes us to paint with a broad brush.
During the past two weeks, I’m seeing news reports of three violent incidents perpetrated by Muslims. The first was at Gracie Mansion in New York City. Two Muslims from the Philadelphia suburbs attempted to detonate two bombs outside the mansion. Fortunately, the bombs did not explode, and the two young men are in police custody.
Four days ago, a Muslim attacked a synagogue in Suburban Detroit. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. The attacker had immigrated from Lebanon and killed himself rather than be placed under arrest. The police have not yet determined the exact motivation for this attack.
The third incident was in Virginia. A Muslim opened fire at Old Dominion University. He killed one person and wounded two others before he was killed. He had been a member of the Virginia National Guard but also had been convicted in the past of helping ISIS. I wonder why a person with such a conviction, was free of prison.
I have no doubt that there are radical terror cells in our nation who might be planning other attacks. Likewise, I am sure that there are people with mental health issues who are unaffiliated with terrorist groups, but who might be planning terrorist actions. There are legitimate threats to citizens of our nation, some of which come from Muslims. Should we deport every Muslim including those who are natural born citizens? Some people believe so.
My social media has lit up with frightened and angry people who are calling for the deportations of Muslims. It is an old pattern in the United States. When we get frightened, we paint various groups with a very broad brush. The media reports on people who are bad actors. Unfortunately, there are no reports on those whose behavior is exemplary.
On Saturday evening I had the pleasure of attending an Iftar Dinner that was sponsored by Peace Islands Institute. This institute has the mission of teaching non-Muslims what Islam is like. You might wonder what “Iftar” is. During the time of Ramadan, devout Muslims fast from dawn until sunset. “Iftar” is a meal at the end of the fast. We, who attended this event ate with the Muslims who were breaking their day long fast.
This is the second year in a row that I have attended the Iftar feast sponsored by Peace Islands. I was pleased to learn a bit about Islam from these folks and was grateful for the opportunity. These folks clearly stood for peaceful relationships with non-Muslims.
As far as I can tell, they had genuinely loving hearts. Yet I worry about them. Will these good-hearted Muslims fall victim to those who are anti-Muslim and wish to paint all Muslims with a broad brush.
Yes, not everyone is to be trusted. Yes, there are many bad actors and there will be innocent people who will be victims. Yet I hope that we do not keep up with our national tradition of painting with broad brushes. It will be the good and innocent Muslims who will be punished because of the actions of bad actors.
Yes, many of us are frightened yet I hope that our fear will not lead us to condemn all Muslims based on the actions of the few. Peace Islands is living evidence of the Muslims who see peace and good relationships with people of good will from various faith groups. I believe that such actions must be encouraged.
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