Islam In America

From a Western perspective, it’s a bad bit of PR. ISIS — which purports to fight for a world where an Islamic Caliphate is dominant — has released a video purportedly showing that it has beheaded Abdul-Rahman Kassig, an American citizen. This Muslim convert was known as Peter Kassig before he headed to Syria to…

Have you been following the “feud” between Bill Maher and his critics over Islam? He contends that references to violence in the Qu’ran are a literal “call to arms”. Here’s a nuanced discussion of the dispute. Key take-away: “people often seek to blame an outside influence for violent and destructive actions of individuals.” In this…

Some people have way too much time on their hands. Object to a commemoration of Muslims who lost their lives in war? How can that possibly be a bad thing — especially when it’s in a particularly Muslim way. Yes: I’m talking about the controversy in Britain over the poppy print scarf: “a Muslim head…

According to an article by Cathy Lynn Grossman of Religion News Service, “Recent college grads, take note: Mentioning a campus religion group on your resume — particularly a Muslim club — may lead to significantly fewer job opportunities.” RNS reports, “Muslims faced the sharpest discrimination [in the South] with 38 percent fewer emails and 54…

In yet another chapter in appalling news from Pakistan, a Christian couple has been beaten and then burned death by a mob which allegedly believed they should die for having desecrated the Qu’ran. How in the name of all that is holy can that be happening in the 21st Century? What is wrong with citizens…

When this writer was in Malaysia earlier this year, she was appalled at the open (and sometimes violent) dispute over word usage. As noted in The New York Times, “According to a series of government orders and rulings by Malaysia’s Islamic councils, the word for God in the Malay language — ‘Allah’ — is reserved…

There’s been much discussion about “Disgraced“, the new production at the Lyceum Theater in New York City. The play won the 2013 Pulitzer prize for drama. Roughly speaking, the play by Ayad Akhtar (pictured) deals with what’s authentically Islamic in the context of contemporary America. Akhtar was born in New York City in 1970 to…

As if we didn’t have enough Islamophobia to deal with, along come those who want to dress up as ISIS military for Halloween. Now, Halloween isn’t exactly a Muslim holiday (it isn’t a Christian one anymore either), but, really?

“Whether or not Islam itself inspires conflict, debates about it certainly do,” writes Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times. Why do you think that is so?

One of the reasons Islam has such a bad rep in the United States is the behavior of Muslims in other countries. As Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, writes, “Religious persecution is a global scourge. Many of the worst oppressors are Muslim nations. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iraq and Egypt are…

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