# What if the majority religion in our country was Muslim **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042 "2010-10-22T21:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/1 "2010-10-22T21:24:26Z")
Instead of presumably Christian Would we be better off today? Would our secular values be respected ? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/2 "2010-10-22T21:38:09Z")
It’d be worse, because being woken up by the call to prayer at 5 am is really freaking annoying. In all seriousness, I have no idea how to answer this question. If the majority of the US was Muslim, it would be as a result of a radically different history than we currently have. It’s hard to know what would be different. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/3 "2010-10-22T21:40:20Z")
What’s “our country”? You have a location that’s in Canada, and that’s not my country, either of citizenship or of residence. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/4 "2010-10-22T21:49:43Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > What’s “our country”? You have a location that’s in Canada, and that’s not my country, either of citizenship or of residence. That is why I didn’t specify a particular country. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/5 "2010-10-22T22:27:58Z")
In respect of women’s rights, I answered NO ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/6 "2010-10-22T22:51:45Z")
I voted “no difference”; I see little to choose between them. Both are anti-woman, anti-homosexual, anti-freedom, anti-science, anti-justabouteverything. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/7 "2010-10-22T23:07:12Z")
It would be interesting because Muslims are not secular. The whole point is God is part of ALL things and governement is part of that. There are a few countries like Egypt and Iraq that are nominally secular but that means they merely tolerate others not that they welcome them. And even then only a dictator keeps the people from voting in a theist state. The real debate behind this question is can Muslims comfortably live in a society that will seperate religion and government. Of course there are lots of Muslim in the West who do this. Now this leads to the question though, how “Muslim” are they? I know plenty of “Christian” who are only nominally Christian, basically showing up to church on Easter and Christmas and that’s that. It also leads to how the rest of the world would see the US as the leading Muslim country. You have groups like Al-Qaeda that can’t accept anything less then their version of Isam. So if the US was a Mulism nation would this make it more of a target? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/8 "2010-10-22T23:09:19Z")
Who voted “better”? I’d like to see the reasoning behind that. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/9 "2010-10-22T23:13:40Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > It would be interesting because Muslims are not secular. The whole point is God is part of ALL things and governement is part of that. Just as Christianity has been, historically. Secularism is a recent development, one that is in opposition to Christianity as much as it is to Islam. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/10 "2010-10-22T23:15:39Z")
“Wolverines!” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/11 "2010-10-22T23:17:43Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > If the majority of the US was Muslim, it would be as a result of a radically different history than we currently have. It’s hard to know what would be different. Yeah. _World_ history would have to be radically different. Christianity and Islam would themselves have different histories. Would we be better off if the majority ethnicity in our country was Polynesian? ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/12 "2010-10-23T03:19:03Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Who voted “better”? I’d like to see the reasoning behind that. It could have been, I dunno, maybe…a Muslim?? It wasn’t me, I didn’t vote and I’m not a Muslim. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/13 "2010-10-23T04:38:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Would we be better of if our country was dominantly Muslim You’d only need to undertake an honest examination and comparison of Earth’s existing societies that are majority this or that to work that simple question out. One effect of living in a Muslim majority country as a non Muslim would be to live as a second class citizen without any meaningful protection under Islamic law. In such circumstances a non Muslim would be forced to flee to a safer environment. This religious purification process is virtually complete in countries and regions like Pakistan and Turkey, and a work in progress in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iraq, Egypt, Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand and Northern Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/14 "2010-10-23T05:10:03Z")
What if the majority religion in our country was Muslim? Obama wouldn’t be elected because he’s a Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/15 "2010-10-23T05:17:45Z")
> [@Aquila\_Be](#): > > You’d only need to undertake an honest examination and comparison of Earth’s existing societies that are majority this or that to work that simple question out. Hardly. What matters is how much power the believers have to force their will on others, not which brand of religious lunacy they follow. Christians have historically done things like execute raped women for fornication, slaughtered Jews, burned books and killed one another over doctrinal differences. Exactly the sorts of things you are complaining about Muslims doing. There’s no reason to think that a Muslim America would be any more or less a theocracy than Christian America has been, or that a Christian Iran would be a more pleasant place to live. American Islam would preach about how Allah loves the free market and rewards the truly Islamic with money. It would complain about modern self indulgence while everyone ignored it. It would in fact look just like American Christianity, just with people babbling about Allah instead of Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/16 "2010-10-23T05:46:59Z")
This is a tough one, because you have to be able to answer the question,to what extent is the raw sexism in Muslim countries the product of their cultures and histories apart from Islam, and to what extent were those cultures and histories created by the sexist elements in Islam? It’s hard to say for sure. However, given the worldwide sexism and bigotry that abounds in Muslim countries, I voted better Christian than Muslim, though as an atheist I am not crazy about either group. It’s just that practically speaking, Islamic countries are neck deep in sexism. I’ve read all sorts of parsing and apologia on this point, but frankly it has not been all that convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/17 "2010-10-23T06:07:31Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > However, given the worldwide sexism and bigotry that abounds in Muslim countries, I voted better Christian than Muslim, though as an atheist I am not crazy about either group. It’s just that practically speaking, Islamic countries are neck deep in sexism. It wasn’t so long ago that the West including America was just as sexist, and America is still Christian despite being far less sexist than it was. It’s not that Christianity isn’t sexist; the Christian believers are always trying to subjugate women and complaining about how women aren’t slaves like they used to be. They just can’t force their beliefs into law to anywhere near the same extent anymore. I think that MuslimAmerica would have followed the same pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/18 "2010-10-23T06:15:10Z")
I’m going to say no. If the United States had been founded as a Muslim nation, I’d assume this would have been a disincentive to immigration. Some other country like Argentina, Australia, Canada, or Brazil would have been the place where the huddled masses yearning to breath free went. The Islamic Republic of America would have remained a historical backwater. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/19 "2010-10-23T06:21:12Z")
Might have been interesting to see if Black Americans would have founded a Nation of Christianity sect. “Muhammad Shabaz was my slave name. I am now called Paul Jones.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042/20 "2010-10-23T06:50:33Z")
We would still have a secular giovernment, so nothing would change. A Muslim majority would not be able to change the Bill of Rights or anything. I basially don’t give a shit what religion somebody is, and I see no real difference between Christianity and Islam anyway. Its not like the Christine O’Donnells and Sarah Palins of the world respect our secular values. Truth be told, I’m far more concerned about Christian fanatics in the US than Muslims. They’re the ones hijacking the Republican party. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-majority-religion-in-our-country-was-muslim/558042.md?page=2)