Reports out the last few days say that the White House is considering another Executive Order that would be controversial the second it arrives, this one labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The last three Presidents have declined to do that, and this one should too.

There are many problems here. The first is that the American people are easy to scare. Using either the words “Muslim” or “terrorist” scares a lot of us, and when used together we get even more scared! And when we’re scared, we don’t always act in our own best interests. Consider the possibility that this is why some politicians like to scare us, and that they do it on purpose. This is important, but not the central point.

It will be easy to scare us about the Muslim Brotherhood, because the name sounds scary. And that’s true primarily because we don’t know the facts. The brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt, as one of the first political parties in a predominantly Islamic country, and with the goal of promoting Islamic values in government. Yes, they want to mix government and religion. Just like a lot of our American Christian friends who insist that this is a “Christian nation” would like us to do. At their roots though, the Muslim Brotherhood is a political organization with religious goals. They have now spread from Egypt across North Africa and into several other countries in the Middle East. The group takes different forms in different countries, from political organization, to formal political party, and sometimes to groups advocating violence against a government. At their most violent, members of the Brotherhood formed the core of the Hamas group.

So have members and sub-groups of the Muslim Brotherhood turned to violence and terrorism? Absolutely. No question about it — unless of course you are someone who calls them “freedom fighters” instead of terrorists. But that’s another debate, and for purposes of argument here I’m going to accept that some members have become violent and performed terrorist activities over time.

But that’s NOT the Muslim Brotherhood as a whole. Where they are really active is in political engagement in various countries, pushing a religious agenda into politics. They primarily fight against autocratic secular governments. Those who are not just against religion, but who actively suppress any mixing of religion and politics. These states may have predominantly Islamic populations, and even include Islam in their constitutions, but the governments are largely secular, and repress religious movements for fear that they may provide a popular movement and an opportunity for someone else to take power. Egypt, Libya and others are great examples of this phenomena.

I’m pretty sure when most Americans hear about the Muslim Brotherhood, their first thought is not “group fighting for religious freedom against tyrannical government.” But that’s most of what the Brotherhood actually does.

So what would an Executive Order from the White House mean? To Americans, it would be sold as a strong step against the scary Muslim terrorists. But to the Islamic world, it would be seen as another step in the battle from the US and the West against Islam. The US claims to be a land of religious freedom, but this step would be seen as supporting autocratic governments that want to suppress that freedom. And yes, it’s likely that this would radicalize even more people, and feed those militant wings that are out there.