There was a time when everybody knew the United States was not merely a Christian country, but a Protestant country. Jews and Catholics were not thought of as “real” Americans and were accepted only on a provisional basis (though still more accepted than blacks or Indians). That didn’t really start to change until the early 20th Century. By the '50s, we had worked out a “Judeo-Christian” cultural compromise in America, whereby priests, ministers and rabbis would all give their inoffensive invocations at public events and high-school football games. But there were still important religious differences and tensions between Jews, Catholics, and the various Protestant denominations.
That was a long time ago. Today, the important cultural divide in America is between those who are traditionally and deeply religious and those who are not. Ultraconservative Jews, Catholics and Protestants are all in a political and cultural alliance, sometimes informal, sometimes formal.
The fastest-growing religion in America today is Islam – and a lot of Muslims are extremely conservative in their social attitudes. They would probably agree with Ralph Reed, Roy Moore, et al. on such issues as abortion and gender roles and a great deal besides.
Could conservative Muslims eventually join the American religious-conservative alliance? Somehow, I think not. I could be wrong. But it seems to me the differences in world-view there are just too wide to bridge.
Until 9/11 and everything that happened after, Muslim Americans did tend to vote Republican and lean conservative. While there aren’t many Muslims for Bush now, after Iraq and concerns about civil rights for Muslims (he still has support among the Kurdish and Iraqi-American Shiite communities in Michegan), back in 2000, Muslims tended to support Bush.
Muslims may agree with conservative Christian beliefs on abortion, or the woman’s role in the family. But they also believe in Jihad(Holy War) . Which is totally and forever incompatible with western Judeo-Christian culture.
By the 1950’s America accepted Catholics and Jews , because it was becoming clear that tolerating minorities would enhance,not damage, American culture.
As long as Bin Laden and Taliban-style Islam is visible on our TV screens, American Muslims are going to have a long, hard struggle convincing other Americans that Islam can enhance U.S culture
(and yes, I know that Jihad is not just military holy war–it is also a complex philosophy of purely intellectual “war” against man’s tendency to sin, etc… But a significant proportion of Muslims DO see it as primarily a violent, military struggle.)
Americans once feared Catholics, because they were supposedly unpatriotic, and took orders from Rome.But Rome never threatened American society with terrorism
Some Muslims believe in violent Holy War, and some don’t. Historically, some Christians have believed in assorted Crusades and Inquisitions, and even now a minority believe in murdering doctors who perform abortions. Many Muslims believe in instituting theocracy and eliminating the freedom of religion of other religious groups. Historically, many Christians have held similar beliefs, and a minority of Christians still do.
Holy war and theocracy are totally and forever incompatible with Western (post-Enlightenment, humanistic, liberal) culture; that’s not the same thing as saying Islam is totally and forever incompatible with Western culture.
I’ve been saying it for a long time - Al Qaeda and the more radical elements of the RNC could form a nice political platform together, given the chance.
