Even so, Halliday’s analysis falls short on two grounds. First, stereotypes about Islam as a religion do feed much of the Islamophobia that is rampant in the West. Islam is often equated in the media and in public discourse with terrorism, misogyny, backwardness, and so forth, and this is often done with Islam as a religion and an ideology in mind. Islam is attacked as a “faith,” even if such attacks, at least in Europe, are not primarily driven by the need to defend Christian truth claims.

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 89