Muslim advocacy group fights for trust after Texas brands it a terrorist group

It was just past 9 p.m. on June 22, during the Texas State Board of Education meeting, when Shaimaa Zayan, operations manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’s Austin chapter, was called up to testify. She braced herself, knowing what was coming.

“Can we have a leader of a foreign terrorist organization testify for the state board of education?” Brandon Hall, a Republican board member, asked the chairman, just as Zayan rose to the podium.

Hall was referring to an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designating CAIR a terrorist group last November. The group, one of the country’s largest Muslim advocacy organizations, however, is not listed on the U.S. Department of State’s list of terrorist organizations, which is officially responsible for such designations.

The chairman said Zayan had a First Amendment right to speak.

“OK, I won’t listen to it,” Hall said, before walking out of the room.

CAIR has spent decades positioning itself as the country’s leading Muslim civil rights organization. But state and federal Republican leaders’ attempts to brand it as a terrorist front in recent months has tested CAIR’s legal standing and cast suspicion on the group or anyone who associates with it. The organization, which has chapters around the country, is now also fighting fraying trust inside some Muslim communities as mosque and nonprofit leaders decide whether standing by CAIR is worth potential risks — notably, in Texas.

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And finally, Faith-based AI company Gloo faces moment of truth after $438M in losses.

Scott Beck has long hoped the faith-based tech company he founded in 2013 would help churches and other Christian groups harness technology to spread God’s word and help save the world.

More than $400 million in losses and 13 years later, that dream faces a critical juncture.

Gloo’s “recurring operating losses, negative cash flows, limited liquid resources and dependence on external financing,” have left its future in doubt, according to an SEC filing.

But Beck told RNS in an interview earlier this year that the company has finally reached critical mass, and the company’s leaders predict the company will turn a profit by the end of 2026.

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