Earlier this month, the TLC network announced that it will cancel the reality show “All-American Muslim” due to low ratings. Critics had complained that the show whitewashed the problem of Islamic radicalism in the U.S. by not portraying Muslim extremists, which led major sponsors such as the retailer Lowe’s to drop their support.
But the show’s producers were closer to portraying reality than critics asserted. The story of Islam in America today is a story of rapid assimilation and even secularization, not growing radicalism.
Jihad Turk, director of religious studies at LA’s Islamic Center of Southern California, says that of the roughly 750,000 Muslims living in Southern California, just 30,000, or about 4%, regularly attend Friday prayer.
“Jihad” Turk?
That was my favorite part. I was looking for Pogrom Berliner’s reaction also.
Probably not his fault, evan miller. At least it’s different. When my husband supervised a factory of several hundred Muslim workers, he could call out one of three names and get most of them (Mohamed, Ahmed, Hassan).
I don’t think I trust this information. For one, its heavily anecdotal. I’m not suggesting conspiracy here. But this is the kind of article that most people will just accept at face value without much further investigation.
To its credit at one point the article mentions that mosque attendance is not the only indicator of religious practice. Technically only men are required to attend and only once a week. But even then, as I understand it, they can do perfectly fine without going. More emphasis is placed on the daily required prayers which can be done anywhere.
I also wonder about the location of Mr. Jihad Turk. It seems a good bet that Californian Muslims are about as representative of those in Detroit and other cities as (most) Californian Episcopalians are to orthodox Anglicans in other parts of the country. I go to school in Richardson TX and I rarely see a young Muslim girl without a head scarf on her head. That could of course be observer bias but the numbers of these American-born girls would seem indicative of a strong religious commitment in this population.
Long story short, I don’t think that an article like this should put us to sleep regarding some of the threats we face from Islam in this country. If Muslims are assimilating just as other groups have in the past then its good news for the American system, but more strenuous fact checking is in order.