The other speakers were Shahriq Khan, a self-described \u201cex-Muslim\u201d turned Christian social media influencer<\/a>; Benji Gershon, founder of the Dallas-based grassroots group American Jewish Conservatives<\/a>; Abteen Vaziri, who lost his primary bid for the GOP nomination for northeast Dallas County\u2019s U.S. House District 32; and John Guandolo, a former FBI agent and author of the 2019 book \u201cIslam\u2019s Deception: The Truth About Sharia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Combatting \u201cIslamic extremism\u201d is a long-held concern in fringe Republican circles, but the ideas discussed March 5 signal a \u201cbig step\u201d from traditional talking points, said Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who studies the intersection of religion and politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the stridency of the rhetoric, that is even the suggestion that you could outright ban or criminalize the practice of the world\u2019s second-largest religion, is noteworthy because that is a real escalation of the rhetoric,\u201d Wilson said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 31,000 people practice Islam in Tarrant County, according to 2020 data from the Association of Religious Data Archives<\/a>. Muslims make up 1% of the Dallas-Fort Worth population, according to Pew Research Center\u2019s 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Concerns about the so-called \u201cIslamization\u201d of Texas regained traction among Tarrant County\u2019s GOP circles during the primaries, with elected officials or candidates seeking to crack down on \u201csharia law\u201d through government policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Convening such a panel so soon after the elections indicates that some religious leaders within the evangelical Christian community perceive the topic of Islam to be \u201ca genuine threat and a genuine issue going forward,\u201d Wilson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want to see it cynically used to garner primary votes and then discarded,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThey want to see concern about Islam continue as a live issue in Texas Republican politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlos Turcios, who leads For Liberty & Justice\u2019s Tarrant County operations, organized the event in response to The Meadow, a planned Muslim-centric residential development in the city of Josephine more than 70 miles northeast of Fort Worth. The project, formerly called EPIC City, faced months of backlash and legal challenges from residents and state officials<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Turcios described growing concern in Tarrant County around Muslim residents creating \u201ctheir own segregated communities.\u201d The discussion was a \u201chealthy debate,\u201d he told the Fort Worth Report following the event that drew about 100 attendees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Khalid Hamideh, spokesperson for the Islamic Association of North Texas, said he was \u201ctaken aback\u201d after discussing Thursday\u2019s event with Report journalists. A 40-year advocate and spokesperson for Islamic organizations, Hamideh said he has never heard talking points such as essentially banning the religion in Texas, especially from an elected official.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is very extreme. They\u2019ve really pushed it to the outer limits,\u201d Hamideh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The campaign rhetoric in recent weeks included Vaziri, an Iranian-American political refugee, explaining that he was running for Congress \u201cto ensure the Islamic ideology he escaped never takes root here \u2014 in Texas or the United States,\u201d according to his campaign website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bo French, former chair of the Tarrant County GOP, promised to \u201cstop the Islamic invasion, and defeat the left,\u201d in his campaign<\/a> for Texas Railroad Commissioner, which oversees the state\u2019s oil and gas industry. French faces Jim Wright in a runoff election in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, French refused calls from within <\/a>the Republican Party to resign from his leadership position after he posted a social media poll asking whether Jews or Muslims pose a \u201cbigger threat to America.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In January, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani \u2014 who successfully sought the GOP\u2019s nomination in a Texas House race \u2014 championed a resolution initially drafted to outlaw sharia<\/a>, the moral code that guides those who practice Islam. City Council members unanimously approved it after removing explicit mentions of sharia in response to community concern that banning sharia would violate the federally protected right to freedom of religion.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s panelists discussed a desire to ban sharia but acknowledged the difficulty in doing so because of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n Wilson, who is Catholic, noted the Texas and U.S. constitutions prevent lawmakers from banning sharia law, much like it prevents banning handguns. They also prevent Muslims from using so-called \u201csharia courts\u201d to enforce their own legal system, he added, comparing sharia to any other moral code or belief system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf I choose to buck the dictates of my faith and have a steak tonight for dinner, my Catholic friends and family may look askance at me, but I can\u2019t be put in jail for it,\u201d Wilson said, referencing the Catholic tradition of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. \u201cTexas would never enforce Catholic religious expectation in that sense, and sharia law is largely the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Every Muslim practices sharia, Hamideh said, comparing the moral code to Christians\u2019 Ten Commandments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese people are hate-mongers. \u2026 They all know we pray to the same God,\u201d Hamideh said. \u201cWe\u2019re climbing the mountain from different directions, but we\u2019re all going in the same direction. We\u2019re all trying to get to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n As the panel took place Thursday evening, Hamideh broke bread with other faith leaders in Richardson at the Islamic Association of North Texas\u2019 annual interfaith iftar. During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset, breaking their fast after sunset.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hamideh described the dichotomy between the two events as \u201cironic,\u201d adding he was surprised to hear such a topic discussed in a \u201choly place of worship.\u201d During the interfaith iftar, he told the congregation, \u201cMuslims are on the menu, and we\u2019re on the ballot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He attributed growing anti-Muslim sentiment to election season, adding that Tarrant County residents are susceptible to such campaign talking points because they\u2019re \u201cso kind\u201d and \u201cso pure.\u201d He urged people unfamiliar with Islam to visit a mosque and learn for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to go the extra mile to reach out to these folks,\u201d he said, urging Muslims not to shy away from the controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The panel\u2019s impact will carry far beyond the church\u2019s doors, Hamideh said. When elected officials or political leaders \u201chate-monger\u201d Islam, they inspire followers to leave bomb threats at local mosques and Muslim schools, make death threats to Muslim families and bully Muslim girls who wear hijabs at school, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe consequences are real,\u201d Hamideh said. \u201cTheir words carry weight with the general public, because people believe what they say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Panelists offered different approaches to combatting what Hopper described as a \u201cpolitical ideology masking as a religion.\u201d Hopper told attendees he became a founding member of the Sharia Free Caucus in the Texas House that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hopper was not initially scheduled to be on the panel but took the place of Mercy Culture pastor Nate Schatzline, Fort Worth\u2019s state lawmaker who is stepping down at the end of the year after accepting a position on President Donald Trump\u2019s national faith advisory board. Schatzline was in D.C. Thursday afternoon to pray over Trump<\/a>, he wrote on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schatzline and other Mercy Culture pastors developed Campaign University, an online course that trains Christian conservatives to seek public office<\/a> or get engaged in local politics through school boards and city councils.\u00a0<\/p>\n Campaign University\u2019s lessons emphasize the idea that there is no separation between what happens within the church and what happens in government. Schatzline and other instructors say the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause on the separation of church and state is meant to protect against government involvement in religion, rather than vice versa.<\/p>\n \nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVi8TVrjtUy\/\n<\/p>\n Turcios didn\u2019t shy away from the suggestion that Campaign University\u2019s goal of mobilizing \u201cconservative warriors\u201d<\/a> mirrors the panel\u2019s concerns about Islam.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very simple: America is a Christian country,\u201d Turcios said. \u201cThere are countries where their identity is tied to their Islamic faith, and I wouldn\u2019t want to change their identity in those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the night Thursday, panelists pushed the idea that Islam mandates that Muslims wage war on other religions and impose sharia on non-Muslims.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hopper shared the idea of ending public contracts with companies that have an H-1B visa program, prohibiting halal foods in Texas schools and deporting those associated with the Muslim Brotherhood or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which Gov. Greg Abbott declared in November as \u201cforeign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.\u201d CAIR denies those claims<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWithout a shadow of a doubt, there is no opportunity for co-existence with civilization,\u201d Hopper said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Khan veered away from what he called the \u201cviolent\u201d language of his co-panelists, instead saying Christians should focus on converting Muslims to Christianity. He discouraged attendees from \u201cattacking\u201d or villainizing those of the Islamic faith, emphasizing \u201crespectful\u201d evangelization.\u00a0<\/p>\n He advised reading and learning the Quran, and suggested that Christian parents teach their children how to stand up for their faith and debunk Islam.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our job as a church to disciple our kids five times harder than the Muslims are discipling theirs,\u201d Khan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Guandolo is the founder of Understanding the Threat<\/a>, an online organization that offers county-level training programs for citizens to \u201cdefeat the jihadi threat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to draw a line and say, \u2018I will risk everything from this moment forward, to defend liberty, to defend freedom of thought, to defend the right to express myself and the right to live freely as an American and as a Texan,\u2019\u201d Guandolo told attendees Thursday night.<\/p>\n Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/07\/banning-islam-deporting-muslims-discussed-at-fort-worth-church-after-primary-elections\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=436901&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/03\/07\/banning-islam-deporting-muslims-discussed-at-fort-worth-church-after-primary-elections\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script>![\"(Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0305-FLJPanel-MC-010-1024x683.jpg\")
Carlos Turcios, For Liberty & Justice\u2019s Tarrant County director, introduces panelists before a discussion on the \u201cthreat of Islam\u201d at Light of the World Church in Fort Worth on March 5, 2026. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"(Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0305-FLJPanel-MC-012-1024x683.jpg\")
State Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, speaks during a panel on the \u201cthreat of Islam\u201d at Light of the World Church in Fort Worth on March 5, 2026. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n