Oklahoma lawmaker singles out Muslims, asks: ‘Do you beat your wife?’

Oklahoma lawmaker singles out Muslims, asks: ‘Do you beat your wife?’
TULSA, Okla. (AP) – An Oklahoma lawmaker who once likened Islam to a cancer has handed out a form asking Muslims to answer questions that include, “Do you beat your wife?”
Republican state Rep. John Bennett’s office distributed the questionnaire this past week as the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations organized its annual Muslim Day at the Capitol. Bennett told Muslims who wanted to see him at the Capitol to fill out the form.
Among other things, the form asked Muslims whether they would denounce terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. It also asked whether they believe former Muslims should be punished for leaving Islam. These questions come in spite of recent estimates which suggest that around 95% of ISIS’s victims are Muslims.
Some critics say that the questions are insensitive and ignore the fact that devout Muslims want terror groups to be defeated just as much as anyone else. Some have also said that a government official asking these questions only to people of one particular faith is a double standard and an affront to the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion among other things. A local official with the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the form contained “hateful, bigoted questions.”