Muslims React: Trump's Ban Is 'Racist,' 'Worrying'

Republican rivals aren't the only ones speaking out against Donald Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from entering the US. Muslims around the world are calling the proposal "ridiculous," "racist," and "worrying," per the AP. A sampling of responses:

• "I don't think that can ever be done. The United States has economic ties with Islamic countries and there are millions of Muslim people in America. This is just a policy to please those who don't like Muslims and to gain more support," says a Thai official.
• A rep for an Islamic center in Australia says the San Bernardino shooting was "not about Muslims." Trump "could better improve the situation if he were to say, 'Let the US take guns more seriously and ban them.'"
• "Donald Trump's statement is a desperate statement by a desperate man who knows that he's clutching at straws and has no chance of winning the election," adds another Australian. "He's trying to win it off the back of the Islamophobia industry."
• "America calls itself the champion of human rights all over the world," says an Islamic scholar in India. "I'm appalled that someone running for president in that country is publicly spreading such views."
• A US-born Muslim living in the West Bank says Trump's plan "makes the melting pot not melt at the end of the day." He adds US relatives tell him they've been victims of "really racist comments. It's not going to be the same being a Muslim in America, even once this passes."

• "It shows how ignorant Donald Trump is to the state of the world," the daughter of a former Indonesian president tells the Guardian. "The majority of Muslims in Indonesia are arch enemies of ISIS, so if Trump's intention is to stop ISIS, then he should have asked for our help, not just put us in the same corner."

Writing at the Washington Post, evangelical Christian Russell Moore notes he "could not disagree more strongly with Islam" but "Christians ought to stand up for religious liberty." He says "a government that can close the borders to all Muslims simply on the basis of their religious belief can do the same thing for evangelical Christians." The "government should close the borders to anyone suspected of even a passing involvement with any radical cell or terrorist network. But the government should not penalize law-abiding people, especially those who are US citizens, for holding their religious convictions." (Read more reactions here.)