Some in America are now considering religious tests. The first amendment prohibits this, and so it’s illegal. More and more republicans are nevertheless on board. Cenk Uygur, hosts of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

“Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush told a New Hampshire talk show Tuesday that he continues to believe the U.S. should have a religious test for Syrian refugees and only allow Christians into the United States. He added that it would be simple to determine who is a Christian and who is a Muslim by the last names and birthplaces of the refugees.

“You can tell when someone is a Christian in the Middle East. I can promise you that,” the former Florida governor said. “There are ample means by which to know this.”

But civil rights advocates say it is far from that easy.

“People assume any Arab name is going to be Muslim, because the Koran is written in Arabic,” Whit Cox, a staff attorney at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told ThinkProgress. “But about half of Arab Americans are Christian. For example, the president of our organization is Samer Khalaf, an Orthodox Christian from Syria. Our legal director Abed Ayoub is a Shiite Muslim. I couldn’t guess their religions and I doubt you could either. They both sound Arabic, and if you’re xenophobic, you’re going to think they’re all Muslims or even terrorists. The easiest way to tell is that many Muslims wear the hijab, but many don’t. So any test will just come down to reinforcing stereotypes.””*

Read more here: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/201…