The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed Girls Scouts response to “manufactured outrage” over Muslim badges and condemned those who are “using Muslim youth as fodder for sensationalism, clickbait, and the anti-Muslim hysteria that continues to plague public discourse in our nation.”
CAIR: Girl Scouts Respond After ‘Muslim Badges’ Spark Backlash – Newsweek
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said:
“We welcome the Girl Scouts’ continued efforts to be an inclusive organization for girls of all faith backgrounds, including Muslim girls who wish to participate in religious recognition programs developed by their own communities. Girl Scouts of the USA, like Scouting America, has a long history of recognizing faith as an important component of scouting and supporting religious programs administered by Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and many other faith traditions, with each faith community organization developing and administering its own program.
“The Islamic awards now being targeted are part of that longstanding, officially recognized multi-faith framework, not a special exception for Muslims. Girl Scouts and Scouting America have for decades recognized comparable religious awards and emblems for a wide range of faith communities, making the decision to single out Muslim scouts and Muslim religious recognitions especially revealing.
“Those seeking to manufacture outrage over Muslim girls and boys participating in scouting programs are not looking out for children but advancing an ideological agenda, using Muslim youth as fodder for sensationalism, clickbait, and the anti-Muslim hysteria that continues to plague public discourse in our nation.”
BACKGROUNDER: CAIR recently responded to a number of anti-Muslim hate incidents nationwide.
Earlier this week, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR welcomed an arrest of a suspect in an allegedly bias-motivated spitting attack on a Muslim woman in Kentucky.
CAIR’s Maryland office condemned the reported harassment of multiple Muslim women wearing Islamic headscarves, or hijabs, at a market in Montgomery County.
CAIR’s Los Angeles office recently condemned the violent online threats responding to an online anti-Muslim smear campaign targeting the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI).
In New York, CAIR called on local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate reported hate vandalism targeting a mosque site on Long Island as a possible hate crime.
CAIR’s Florida chapter welcomed charges for an alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting at a mosque.
Its Michigan chapter welcomed federal charges against an Alaska man accused of making threats to injure and murder Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and issuing violent, Islamophobic threats against Muslims.
Its Pittsburgh and Philadelphia chapters welcomed the City of Erie’s response to reported threats targeting the local Muslim community and urged authorities to remain vigilant in protecting residents from anti-Muslim hate and intimidation.
CAIR also welcomed the federal indictment of a Utah man on a hate crime charge for allegedly stabbing a Muslim man at the West Valley Mall in West Valley City, Utah.
CAIR’s latest civil rights report documented 8,683 anti-Muslim bias complaints in 2025 – the highest number ever recorded by the organization since it began publishing civil rights reports in 1996.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]