This was not (just) a ‘tragedy’
Photograph by Raka Dwi Wicaksana via Unsplash
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf
One of the ways I have seen statements characterize the unconscionable attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 has been as a “tragedy.” Without a doubt, what happened is tragic, but that word can cover up the true scope of the horror that two teenagers unleashed on a Muslim community at prayer.
The word tragedy is too light for the grief that we hold. Tragedies can be random, and they are often one-off events. We are not dealing with such a calamity. What happened on May 18 was not merely a tragedy; it was an act of anti-Muslim hate made more imaginable by a nation in which hatred of Muslims has been normalized and even sanctified.
The reality is that such acts of hate have been fomented and supported at the highest levels of our government. While not directly planned by those officials, they have overseen and ushered in a new era of anti-Muslim hate that has seen shocking and painful results.
If you need convincing, look at presidential advisor Laura Loomer’s response to the shooting as the news was breaking on Twitter: “The best way to ensure their safety is for our DHS Secretary Markwayne Muslim (sic) @SenMullin to deport every Muslim in America back to the Middle East.” That builds on several comments from the administration, including Trump’s blasphemous use of “praise be to Allah” in a post celebrating the bombing of Iran, as well as Rep. Andy Ogles’s statement in March that “pluralism is a lie” and “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” It’s as if the pluralistic democracy we were taught to believe in is crumbling right before our eyes.
Neither I nor anyone who is not a part of the investigation into the attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego can know the motives of the gunmen, but we do know that they left behind some writings that were filled with hate for Muslim American communities. It’s not as if we don’t know where they got such hate-filled ideas from. They got them from the leaders of this country, and their words have consequences, even if they seem so hellbent on evading accountability at every turn.
What happened on May 18 was not merely a tragedy; it was an act of anti-Muslim hate made more imaginable by a nation in which hatred of Muslims has been normalized and even sanctified.
That’s not to put all the blame on our leaders – there is plenty of radicalization going on through YouTube, TikTok, and other social media, but our elected leaders are mainstreaming hate to a degree that I have never seen before. They are doing so because it sells, and the American population as a whole is attracted to it. When asked why Texas Republican candidates had made anti-Muslim rhetoric and sharia bans a staple of this primary election, one consultant said this: “One hundred percent this message works — there’s no question about it. This has been polled up one side and down the other, and with Texas Republican primary voters, it works. It is a thing they are legitimately scared of.”
Only by acknowledging the long lead-up to this event can we find the resolve to chart a new course as a country. I firmly believe that people of faith are an integral part of articulating that future. The truth is that much of the Islamophobia that is in our discourse right now comes from Christian sources. People are being taught to hate those of other religions in churches; polling from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding reveals rising Islamophobia in the United States from 2022-2025, with the greatest increases occurring among white evangelicals and Catholics.
So, don’t say that this is a tragedy and move on. Instead, call it an act of hate that is being encouraged from the very top. Only then can we hold our leaders accountable and make a better world. Our hearts are full of grief, but we cannot simply stop at “thoughts and prayers” – we have to understand where such evil acts come from.
There’s a classic horror movie trope in which the protagonists realize that the threat is not outside the house, but inside it. That’s where we are right now. These two gunmen may have fired the shots, but their hatred did not emerge from nowhere. It has been carefully cultivated in speeches, and too often baptized by Christian language. If faith communities want a different future, then it begins with the hard work of confronting the hatred in our own institutions, rhetoric, and finally, our hearts.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf is senior minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves as the co-associate regional minister with the American Baptist Churches Metro Chicago. His most recent book, co-authored with Anna Piela, Confronting Islamophobia in the Church: Liturgical Tools for Justice (Judson Press 2026) offers a theology of interfaith engagement with Muslims. Woolf is also a co-founder of Challenging Islamophobia Together Chicagoland, an initiative that brings together people of all faiths to counter Islamophobia from a religious perspective.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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