NPR: The Real Picture on Muslim Americans

The Real Picture on Muslim Americans

It's always nice when a major research center releases a study that lends support to something I've believed for a long time -- that one of the main reasons that there have been no further terrorist attacks in the U.S. since Sept. 11 is that Muslims are more integrated into American society and culture than their counterparts are in Europe.

In the report from the Pew Research Center for The People and the Press on Muslim Americans, "Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream," I wasn't surprised to read that "Muslim Americans have a generally positive view of the larger society. Most say their communities are excellent or good places to live." Nor that 71 percent believe that if you're willing to work hard you can get ahead here. Nor that 63 percent see no problem between being a devout Muslim and living in a free society. Nor that 80 percent believe that a suicide bombing in the name of Islam is a bad thing.

These survey results, of course, don't mean something horrible won't ever happen here again. Or that there aren't any grievances in the American Muslim community. But I'm a firm believer that freedom of religion is one of the greatest gifts America gives to those who come here. I've seen it firsthand.

Several years ago, my family hired a young au pair from France named Najat. She had grown up in a secular Muslim household. She was a great au pair and my kids loved her. But she was restless and often unhappy. She started, more as a lark than anything else, attending some meetings at the mosque in Cambridge, Mass., near where we lived. It changed her life.

One day, toward the end of her stay, she said the most amazing thing. Coming to America had given her the freedom to choose to be a Muslim, something that she didn't feel she had in France. She said that America was "the greatest country in the world" for Muslims because you could live as you liked, in a free society. She said those who wanted to destroy America just didn't understand that.

11:01 AM ET | 05-23-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

If 60% of Christinas believed that the Holocaust did not happen would the media possibly raise an eyebrow, then why doesn't NPR care that 60% of American Muslims don't believe Arab Muslims perpetrated 911?

Sent by PeaceGardener | 10:42 PM ET | 05-23-2007

Peacegardener is right to be concerned, but we don't know how the question was worded or what context the respondents had in mind. It comes down to how do you apply the label "Muslim."

For example, if an American terrorist blew up a building killing many innocent people, and we find out that he or she attended a Christian church every Sunday, would we say the terrorist was a Christian? I would not.

Sent by Sandy | 12:07 PM ET | 05-24-2007

Comments by Peacegardener and Sandy reveal the extent to which naive (or agenda) people will go to try to twist facts that don't fit their skewed view of the world. "It depends on what the meaning of IS is." How pathetic.
Rich

Sent by Rich | 2:39 PM ET | 05-24-2007

The text of the Pew report (http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=329) shows that the question was whether the American Muslim respondents believed the 9/11 attacks were committed by Arabs (no religious reference was made). A full 60% of them said they didn't.

Sent by Jim in Boulder | 2:45 PM ET | 05-28-2007

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