(singing) >> i think that there's incredible parallels between the rhetoric that was once used against catholics and the rhetoric that's now being used against muslims. and the parallels are that, in the catholics' case, it was the pope who was going to take over america. in muslim's case, it's sharia law that's going to take over america. >> modern anti-semitism is a kind of superstition. it is a statement that this particular segment of society is the cause of anything that seems to go wrong and its audience is always people who, at any given time, are feeling that they're losing. they are disadvantaged in some way by economic trends or cultural trends or political

trends and these people look for a simple explanation of what's happening to them. >> i would want everybody to know that it has to go deeper than a march on any particular weekend or imagining on facebook that we all are one. it really needs to be getting to know each other and getting educated about each other's faiths. religious literacy is a real problem in this country. >> narrator: cbs presents... >> this charred shell is all that's left of the victoria islamic center. the fire started just after 2:00 a.m. saturday. >> we are sad that we have lost our place of worship. i have been the imam here for the last 16 years and never have we experienced anything like this. >> covered in black marker with nazi symbols, swastikas, even sayings, "jews belong in the oven." >> i'm a child of a holocaust survivor, so i grew up with stories of destruction of jewish

cemeteries. i always thought that we were done with that. >> narrator: the most challenging question of our time is, how do we live with our deepest differences? >> the very understanding of who is acceptable in american society goes to the very heart of who americans are and who americans can be. so, issues like excluding immigrants based on a religion test, which is against various laws in our country, not only threaten those who would like to come to the united states but also it threatens those who are within the united states. >> narrator: fueling this division is a misconception that our country was founded as a christian nation. >> now, if you think about the preamble to the constitution, "we the people." it doesn't say in the name of god, it doesn't say with the blessings of jesus christ, it

does not invoke a supreme being. the constitution is shaped by we, the people, and we, the people, are a diverse lot. >> we find that folks like thomas jefferson and others were quite clear that there was going to be no discrimination whatsoever. he very clearly stated that we need to be welcoming of jews and gentiles, gentews-- which is actually a term for hindus-- and muslims. so, just absolutely no interest whatsoever in any kind of delimiting notion of who could be american based on religion. >> narrator: but living up to the promise of america has never been easy. (singing) among those most at risk today are members of the muslim community. according to the southern poverty law center, anti-muslim

hate groups tripled in 2016 from 34 to 101. >> an incredibly important element in today's anti-muslim sentiment is the notion of nativism, and this current president has capitalized on a nativist sentiment that, something parallel, is also awash in europe as well, where, as we saw in the 1920s, there is a concern about immigrants coming in, taking our jobs and displacing our values, and often not looking like us. so, the nativism often has a racial premise as well as religious premise. >> narrator: many are surprised to learn that catholics were once considered suspicious and a threat to the country. >> this kind of anti-catholicism was really the holdover of european anti-catholic sentiment so that, insofar as england had become an anglican country and then also birthed a number of dissident protestant movements,

all of them were, to various degrees, anti-catholic, and it's been said that, really, to be british at this point meant to be anti-catholic. >> narrator: julie byrne is an associate professor of religion at hofstra university and author of "the other catholics." >> these sentiments came to this new experiment in democracy and independence from england, and even at that point, there were significant worries that what the founders were trying to do was not going to be compatible with the catholic religion. >> narrator: there was a fear that catholics would not be good citizens because of their allegiance to the pope. >> they can't participate in a democracy in the appropriate way, that the pope in any way overruled them to the extent that they followed him like sheep, that the pope himself had designs on taking over the

republic of the united states and was, in some cases, going to move the vatican to washington so he could better oversee things. all of these kinds of things were in the imaginations of protestants who feared the new catholic immigrant presence. >> narrator: between 1820 and 1920, 30 million immigrants came to the united states. many were catholics from germany and ireland. >> the other, however, strain of what was going on was a nativist anti-immigration, xenophobic, and racialized aspersion put onto catholics who were all, at various times, described as darker, swarthy, depraved, and dumb and incapable of being, you know, who these critics decided should be the rightful heirs of

the united states of america, which turned out to mean white, anglo-saxon protestants and those who were native born. ♪ >> narrator: the mid-19th century was the height of anti- catholic sentiment. >> that's the moment at which anti-immigrant fervor comes to the point of a mob attacking a convent of sisters, the ursuline sisters of charlestown, massachusetts, and they burned the convent to the ground. this was not the only instance, so that we had churches set afire, we had catholic people killed. there was a catholic priest assassinated in south carolina, all because of the boiling over of this hate for catholics and the fear mongering about what it meant to have them as part of the republic. ♪ >> narrator: in the 1920s, hate groups like the ku klux klan murdered black americans and

terrorized jews as well as catholics, but within 50 years, anti-catholicism would nearly disappear. >> one of the things that happens when a community is attacked is that it does protective actions and supportive actions, encouraging, for example, catholics to enlist as soldiers in the u.s. military, encouraging catholics to run for office, encouraging catholics to be part of civic organizations so that whole police forces in certain cities became irish catholic. so, there were really movements to get catholics integrated into the larger society and prove that they were as patriotic and as upstanding citizens as anyone else. >> i, john fitzgerald kennedy, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: in 1961, john f. kennedy became the first catholic president of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> he was so popular and he was

so youthful and he did answer questions about his catholicism in incredibly brilliant and savvy ways that put people to rest. then there was, at the same time, vatican ii, and vatican ii really changed the public profile of the catholic church from this old medieval institution to one that was trying to get in step with modern times. and so, it does give hope in the sense that things can change and things can change in a maelstrom of circumstances that don't look good at the moment but might have a different ending than we expect. >> narrator: coming up... >> we've seen an alarming rise of acts of vandalism against jewish property. language that had been really marginalized is now kind of creeping back into public discourse.,, [piano playing slow tune]

announcer: don't wait. communicate. make your emergency plan today. ♪ >> narrator: a recent pew study

revealed jews are among the most liked faith groups in america, but recent attacks on the community reveal a more complicated history. bomb threats directed at jewish schools and community centers are on the rise. historic jewish cemeteries were vandalized in missouri and pennsylvania. targeted threats like these have many concerned about the rise of anti-semitism. >> and while we don't know how many people are involved in this, the fact that they're out there, they're getting these headlines, is license to others to say, "let me do that too." >> narrator: anti-semitism is often referred to as the longest hatred, and it has made an indelible impact around the world. the first colonial jews to arrive in america were fleeing religious persecution in europe. >> if there was any religious tradition that was viewed as

threatening and dangerous, it was catholicism, and so jews really benefited from the fact they weren't catholics. america was a place that had a tremendous need for labor and capital. jews came with a set of commercial skills. they did have their global trade networks, which were terribly significant to the colonial rulers, and they were white, which was extremely important, which meant that they were free. >> narrator: but by the turn of the 20th century, a huge influx of newcomers fueled anti- immigrant sentiment among america's native born protestant population. for jewish immigrants, anti- semitic practices came not from the government but from fellow americans. >> the first incident we often think of is the grand union hotel in saratoga springs in 1877 where joseph seligman was told, "we don't want you anymore." the gentile patrons said,

"well, you know, jews sit around, they talk too loudly, they talk with their hands, they congregate with each other, and it really ruins the atmosphere." >> narrator: meanwhile, a populist movement of farmers in the midwest blamed their economic woes on the banks and the nationalization of railroads. >> and they very easily made that sort of shift from being against the banks and against the railroads and saying, "it's the jews." >> narrator: while underlying social prejudice against jews continued, their civil liberties were not under attack like other minorities. >> one of the things to keep in mind, how different this was than the day to day, hour by hour oppression of african- americans. okay, i mean, people who had to worry about what streets they walked on, who for most of american history could not vote, could not use public water. i mean, none of this affected jews, and it's really

significant, and, again, what happened to the african- americans, what happened to the chinese was at the hands of the state, the embodiment of the society, and jews could say, "america is good. america is the best place we've ever been. america is different." >> narrator: today, one of the more shocking forms of modern anti-semitism is holocaust denial. >> the idea that the holocaust didn't happen or that the numbers involved have been exaggerated or that the death camps did not gas people, these are fantasies. >> narrator: peter hayes is a nazi germany historian and author of the book, "why? explaining the holocaust." >> in order to promote the ideology of jew hatred, you basically say no, that never happened. that's a story they made up. that is fake news. and because fake news and

mistrust of authoritative, well- researched forms of opinion has grown in our society... denial has an opening, has an opportunity, that it did not have 20 years ago. >> narrator: the crimes of the holocaust are considered anti- semitism at its worst. during the second world war, six million european jews were persecuted and murdered by nazis under the direction of adolf hitler. >> i think the common misconception is that anti- semitism did bring hitler to power and in fact, it did not. they basically said, the first thing we need to do is remove the influence of jews over germans. this is this old anti-semitic tradition that jews are contaminating-- so we have to insulate ourselves from them. now, how do you do that? you remove them from journalism. you remove them from cultural institutions that germans patronize. you remove them from civil service positions where they have authority over germans and so forth. that's what they did first. they didn't necessarily begin to

strip people of property, only gradually at the local level, rather than the national level do they begin in 1934 and '35 to squeeze people's livelihoods and make sure that they couldn't earn a living. (speaking german) >> narrator: according to hitler, not only were jews contaminated, but they were the source of evil. >> he also was convinced that they were the mortal enemies of the german people. that no matter what germany's immediate rivalries with other states were, that it was always jewish power that intended to undermine germany. >> narrator: hitler believed germany lost world war i because of the jews. >> therefore, if germany was to become powerful again, if it was to rise from the defeat of 1918 and maybe have another war, it could only be successful if the jews were driven out from behind the german lines. >> narrator: at the time, jews were less than one percent of

the german population. >> the other nations would not accept them fast enough. he could drive out some but not all. the nazis realized as time passed, not only could they not drive out their own jews, but as they expanded they would keep acquiring more jews. and this became the central dilemma between 1938 and 1941. >> narrator: hayes says one of the most frequently asked questions is why did the jews not fight back? >> they would have had to have been clairvoyant to understand what was coming and to overcome all their internal disagreements, and then no one could have anticipated the diabolical nature in which the germans divided the jewish community in order to rule it, because they gave privileges to some people and they said some people could live longer if they served the interests of the germans. so this was a community placed under enormous stress. almost nothing the jews ultimately decided to do changed their fates. >> narrator: most of the jews

were killed in death camps between june of 1941 and february 1943. >> when people want to persecute, what they try to do is separate the group that they're persecuting from the rest of the body politic. so you try to convince people in the majority that the minority aren't-- they're not really people like you. and this is systematically what the nazis started-- tried to do with the german jews. they depicted the german jews as immigrants even though in many cases they had been there-- families had been there for 300 years. they depicted them as coming from elsewhere, not being really like us, and though they may seem to be like us in the fifth generation of residence in the country, they really aren't. and therefore you have to get rid of them. >> narrator: coming up... >> it is an amazing moment we're living in right now in which more americans are beginning to empathize with their muslim neighbors.

>> narrator: muslims have been part of this country's spiritual history since before the country was founded. it's estimated that 20% of slaves brought to america during the transatlantic slave trade were muslim. today, they are one of the most ethnically diverse faith groups in america, even though they represent only one percent of the population. muslims are among those most targeted for hate crimes. >> and i think that that's not accidental. i think that very much has to do with the current political climate and the current acceptability of certain types of religious prejudice. >> narrator: while anti-muslim sentiment peaked after 9-11 and in the run-up to the iraq war, studies show it is most widespread during election cycles. >> in 2008, we begin to see an increase in antagonism towards

muslims and islam, again in the polling information. and also an increase in the number of hate crimes that are being reported. >> narrator: peter gottschalk is a professor of religion at wesleyan university and co- author of "islamophobia: making muslims the enemy." >> at the same time we see that republican candidates in various places in the country are beginning to use islamophobia and anti-muslim sentiment as part of campaign platforms in order to get themselves elected. so, we can see a fairly clear correlation between the ways in which it's being adopted in political rhetoric and the way that it's being expressed by other americans in discriminatory behavior if not actually hate crimes. >> narrator: in the 34 days following the 2016 election, the southern poverty law center reported nearly 1,000 hate crimes, many targeting muslims. hate crimes are fueled in part

by islamophobia, an exaggerated fear and hostility toward muslims. islamophobia dates back long before 9-11 to the earliest days of our democracy. >> it was because for europeans for centuries, muslims represented a foil of bad politics, bad religion and bad people. not, again, because they felt like there was any immediate threat by muslims in the continental united states. but simply because they were a negative foil. >> narrator: in the 1970s, long lines at the gas pump during the opec oil embargo fueled negative stereotypes about arabs in the middle east. >> when the organization of petroleum exporting countries severely curtailed the oil supplies coming to the united states, many americans responded to that with very anti-muslim kind of sentiments, and those anti-muslim sentiments were very

racial in quality. >> narrator: during the iranian revolution in 1979, a group of students illegally seized the american embassy in tehran. >> when islamic theologies and political ideologies began to come to the fore, many americans were shocked that islam could play such a role in politics, and so they began to see this event as an islamic affront against american values. >> narrator: in the 16 years since 9-11, hostility and fear toward muslims has only intensified. >> many americans operate under the understanding that they understand what islam is. and many americans have never had any kind of education about religion in general outside of their own religious community. and so, americans come at the topic of religion itself with a real naivete. >> narrator: meanwhile, for the first time ever, a presidential candidate expressed anti-muslim

rhetoric during an election. >> we saw some earlier elements of this with some republican innuendo that barack obama as a candidate was actually a closet muslim, right? but that was, for the most part, done on kind of the down low, and we didn't hear the presidential candidates themselves really coming to as explicit voice about this. but donald trump represents something different. >> narrator: also fueling anti- muslim sentiment is economic uncertainty. >> nowadays, the people who tend to respond to populist nationalist movements in the world are people who feel that the digital revolution has left them behind. a lot of small towns in the united states are not flourishing the way big cities are flourishing. and they also have a fear of terrorism. which is they see is the islamic, the various crises of the middle east have produced a threat which they tied to religion, but which is not really tied to religion, it's tied to the dislocations of political and social structures

that are breaking down in these areas. and people who are alarmed by this, they feel like the... time is against them. time is working against them. those people are the people who respond to simple solutions and say we can close the borders, we can, in fact, put up the walls and we can huddle behind those. and if there are people who are with us behind those walls who we don't trust, we can expel them. >> narrator: in january, the white house issued an executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven muslim majority countries. the federal courts overturned that order and a subsequent revision. one judge took aim at statements made by mr. trump during the campaign, saying that they showed discriminatory intent. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> narrator: these statements were, as the judge said...

(crowd chanting) the travel ban also prompted a nationwide uproar in support of the muslim community. >> muslims are now becoming more like those groups that most americans recognize as having been historically... been discriminated against. >> narrator: while american democracy hangs in the balance, how the country faces up to these latest challenges remains to be seen. >> my parents were immigrants and they always talked about america as the best place for jews, as the place that was not... well, they all came from eastern europe. i mean, they lived in horrible circumstances, and i'd hate to think that they had been wrong. >> it is the responsibility of all americans to deal with all of their prejudices and antipathies. i was certainly raised in an islamophobic environment myself.

i had my own trajectory of having to work through many of those biases and to recognize how the foundation of them were not well founded. >> these impulses of scapegoating a particular population and imagining a religiously unfit group for the american experiment is something we've seen before and something we've weathered before, and the long arc of history, as president obama would say, does keep going in the direction of continuing to figure out how to welcome new people, continuing to figure out how to agitate, if necessary, for that welcome. so, the administration is one thing and the people of america who did not in the majority vote for this president and are in the streets to welcome all immigrants and refugees is really part of the story too. ♪

♪ >> narrator: to view this program and others like it, go to cbsnews.com/religion-and- culture. ,, ,,,,,,,,

celebrating sixty years .... bringing films, filmmakers... stars to the bay area this years' festival launches in just a few days... and it's going to be bigger than ever.... here to tell us more about it is noah cowan, executive director of sf film.... welcome to bay sunday remember the 60th s-f international film festival takes place april 5th through the 19th... welcome to bay sunday. >> thank you. >> talk about what is happening this year. >> it is the 60th anniversary per we are pulling out the stops. we have relocated to the center for the arts. really convenient for people from all over the bay area to come in and enjoy