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(RNS) — There is a particular exhaustion, election after election, in seeing the Muslim community dunked on for cheap political points. The anti-Sharia ads and billboards have gotten old, and we’re tired of hearing lies regurgitated constantly about our faith and community.

But after this week’s elections, I wonder whether some politicians will finally recognize another kind of exhaustion: Americans are tired of being told whom to fear instead of what a candidate plans to do to improve their lives.

The assumption behind so much anti-Muslim campaigning is that invoking Islam will end the conversation. Make a candidate sound foreign, turn a mosque into a threat and say “Sharia” often enough, and voters will stop asking about their medical bills and gas prices.…