Since Islam has been much discussed in recent political discourse, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding decided to take a survey to find out what American Muslims actually believe in. Dalia Mogahed, ISPU’s research director, says a key finding is that “Islam doesn’t weaken Muslim patriotism, it actually strengthens it. Muslims with a stronger religious identity actually have a stronger American identity than those with a weak religious identity.”
The poll was taken back in January and compared Muslim-Americans to American Jews, Protestants, and Catholics with regards to their attitudes on patriotism, faith, activism, state of the country, and state of their own personal lives.
Faith is important to the Muslim identity, the survey found, with 91% of those polled agreeing with the statement that “being American is important to how they think of themselves.”
Another key finding was in regards to mosque attendance and radicalism. “We found that there was no correlation between mosque attendance and support of violence,” says Mogahed. She went on to say that the results indicate that those who attend mosque services regularly “are more receptive to a message of civic engagement.”
For more on the survey, please read —
