In an interim study led by Oklahoma state representative John Bennett, the politician could be heard praising the audience for being model citizens, actively seeking to become better informed and to participate in the government. However, on Thursday, March second, he did not extend his welcome towards several Muslim high school students who visited his office. Before being admitted into Bennett's office, the students from Tulsa's Peace Academy were handed a questionnaire that specifically targeted their beliefs; it was titled "Questions About Islam."

Far from wanting to be educated in the true practices of Islam, Bennett posed highly provoking and insulting questions that not only called the prophet of Islam a "killer of pagans" but also suggested that Mohammed was a pedophile. Other questions introduced passages from the Koran, including some direct quotes, and continued by asking the subjects if they agree with the phrase or if the passage was "really true" in a grotesque attack on the teenagers' religious affiliation.

On the one page sheet, dense with repulsive language, Bennett, who has repeated fought with the Council of American-Islamic Relation (CAIR), asked, "have you ever deceived a kafir (a disbeliever or non-believer)?" Bennett who distributed this questionnaire on Muslim Day at the Capital of Oklahoma asked, "what hope is there of coexistence" between Muslims and non-Muslims. And he even asked, "do you beat your wife?"

Previously, he has compared Islam to "a cancer" that must be "cut out" and has called the "teachings of Mohammed" to be "the antithesis of our Constitution." It is logic similar to Bennett's rational that disseminates Islamophobia by instilling the idea that extremism is indistinguishable from the moderate practice of the religion. Bennett has taken all Muslims and equated them to radicals, threats to national security, his "enemy knocking at the door", yet he fails to see that Muslims are often the victims of terrorist attacks orchestrated by groups such as ISIS, not the perpetrators and that all religions teach good behavior and benevolence, not violence.

The executive Director of CAIR, Adam Soltani, has declared the the questionnaire was crafted by ACT America, one of the largest anti-Islamic groups in the United States.

Well, it comes as no surprise that Representative John Bennett is associated with the group since he is known to support the passage of a bill that could potentially ban Islam-which would be the ultimate opposing force to the Constitutional provisions he purportedly defends. After receiving backlash on social media, Bennett responded by defending the questionnaire which he distributed while attacking Islamic "sympathizers."

The attitudes which John Bennett has expressed towards people of the Muslim community are disturbing and unacceptable. As an individual of political office, he is responsible for his constituents, which includes the young men and women who approached him on Thursday. Completely devoid in John Bennett's persona, when addressing any form of bigotry or injustice, tolerance is increasingly more valuable yet dishearteningly less available.