The Most Significant Dilemmas Faced by Jews and Muslims in American Culture
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The most significant dilemmas faced by Jews and Muslims in American culture
By: Vicki Wilson
November 23, 2009
In this paper I am going to identify the most significant problem for Jews in America based on Marc Lee Raphael’s Judaism in America and for Muslims in America based on Geneive Abdo’s Mecca and Main Street Muslim Life in America After 9/11 and Greg Noakes “Muslims and the American Press”. Then I will discuss some of the strategies both cultures used to try to resolve these issues. Finally I will discuss why in today’s American culture there is such an attraction to traditional religious practices.
According to Marc Lee Raphael’s Judaism in America the most significant problem facing the American Jew is the decline in population. When Raphael began his career Jews made up 3% of the American population but in 2000 that number had fallen to 2%. Raphael gives three major factors for the population decline. The first factor is the lack of new immigrants. With the decline of immigrants to America the influx of Jews has decreased. The second factor is a low rate of reproduction among the Jews. “Jews have been notorious, at least since the 1950s, for residing in the lowest ecological fertility category, or being unable to even reproduce the parental generation.” (Raphael, 2003: 1). The third factor is the high rate of intermarriages. Due to these factors the numbers of Jews have steadily continued to decline (Raphael, 2003: 1).
According to Geneive Abdo’s Mecca in Main Street Muslim Life in America after 9/11 the most significant problem facing the American Muslim is stereotyping. “There is a lesson, repeated over and over, that Muslims are learning from their interactions with mainstream America. As long as others interpret their lives and their faith, Islam will be judged strictly from a Western perspective.” (Abdo, 2006: 134). Most of these interpretations by Americans are based on what the media says, more specifically...
By: Vicki Wilson
November 23, 2009
In this paper I am going to identify the most significant problem for Jews in America based on Marc Lee Raphael’s Judaism in America and for Muslims in America based on Geneive Abdo’s Mecca and Main Street Muslim Life in America After 9/11 and Greg Noakes “Muslims and the American Press”. Then I will discuss some of the strategies both cultures used to try to resolve these issues. Finally I will discuss why in today’s American culture there is such an attraction to traditional religious practices.
According to Marc Lee Raphael’s Judaism in America the most significant problem facing the American Jew is the decline in population. When Raphael began his career Jews made up 3% of the American population but in 2000 that number had fallen to 2%. Raphael gives three major factors for the population decline. The first factor is the lack of new immigrants. With the decline of immigrants to America the influx of Jews has decreased. The second factor is a low rate of reproduction among the Jews. “Jews have been notorious, at least since the 1950s, for residing in the lowest ecological fertility category, or being unable to even reproduce the parental generation.” (Raphael, 2003: 1). The third factor is the high rate of intermarriages. Due to these factors the numbers of Jews have steadily continued to decline (Raphael, 2003: 1).
According to Geneive Abdo’s Mecca in Main Street Muslim Life in America after 9/11 the most significant problem facing the American Muslim is stereotyping. “There is a lesson, repeated over and over, that Muslims are learning from their interactions with mainstream America. As long as others interpret their lives and their faith, Islam will be judged strictly from a Western perspective.” (Abdo, 2006: 134). Most of these interpretations by Americans are based on what the media says, more specifically...