Racism Towards Othello

Again, I am coming back to the theme of racism as it is portrayed. I wondered, what type of racial tendancies the audiences of Shakespeare's time, maybe this would give insight to racism in Othello. After doing some research, I saw that William Shakespeare was raised Catholic. Although this religion was looked down upon by English, it was practiced in private amongst devout worshipers. During Shakespeare's time, their was a huge Anti-Islam movement throughout Europe, specifically from the Catholic rulings of Spain and France. I am trying to reason whether this is why Shakespeare chose for Othello to be a Moor, a Muslim. Anyways, if this is not the reason, I still find it to be an interesting coincidence.