Sunday Reflections: The Boston Marathon

By the Rev. Dai Morgan

This past week the national media was focused on news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and the ensuing manhunt for the two young men suspected of carrying out this crime. Tamerlan Tzarnaev (age 26) and his brother Dzhokhar (age 19) were soon identified as suspects. Pursuit of the brothers lasted four days. Tamerlan was killed in a gun battle with police and the wounded Dzhokhar was apprehended later.

It began on Monday, April 15, when two homemade bombs were detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three individuals were killed outright, including an 8-year-old boy, and 176 people were wounded, many severely. MIT police officer Sean Collier is also believed to have been shot to death by the brothers during their getaway attempt.

At this point, the details of the story are well known. I do not intend to repeat them. What now needs to be learned is the reason for this attack. There has been speculation that the two young men had been “radicalized.” It has been suggested that their Chechen roots or their Muslim faith might be behind their actions. Counterterrorism officials are examining a possible link between the brothers and a terrorist organization called The Islamic Jihad Union of Central Asia.

At this time, there is no clear understanding of what motivated the attack. But, that did not stop a prominent local radio talk show host from suggesting that the Boston Marathon bombing was one more example of Islam’s war on the United States.

This implication is the inspiration behind my blog, today. It is my opinion that any belief that the worldwide religion of Islam is somehow the enemy of the United States is ridiculous. There might be great cultural differences and conflicts between some regions of the world, where Islam predominates, and the USA, but these should not be confused with the religion, itself. We have no war with Islam.

I’m not going to try to defend my contention, here. This is probably not the right forum. However, I would like to present some data in regard to American Muslims. This information is both interesting and enlightening. In light of the recent events in Boston and the present investigation into the motives of the Tzarnaev brothers, this is worth knowing. The information comes from a Pew Research Center report, released in May 2007, entitled “Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream.” Following are some of the findings:

A major challenge in describing the Muslim American population is estimating its size. There is currently no scientific count of Muslims in America. The Pew study estimates that Muslim adults constitute 0.6% of the population. This projects to 1.4 million.

65% of US Muslims are first-generation immigrants. 35% were born in the USA. 21% of native-born Muslims are second-generation. The first-generation immigrants originated from at least 68 different nations, with no single nation accounting for more than 12%.

Reasons for coming to America are: 26% educational opportunities, 24% economic opportunities, 24% family reasons, 20% conflict or persecution in home country.

77% of all US Muslims are American citizens. Beside the 35% born in the USA, 65% of those foreign-born have been naturalized.

Muslim Americans are slightly younger than the non-Muslim population. 56% of Muslims are between 18 and 39. In the general public, 40% are in this category.

Marriage rates are similar for Muslims and non-Muslims at about 60%. Divorce and separation rates are reported to be slightly lower (9%) than the general population.

No single race constitutes a majority of all Muslim Americans: 38% white, 26% black, 20% Asian, 16% mixed. Of native-born Muslims, 56% are black and 31% are white.

Muslim Americans reflect the overall population in income and education levels. This is in contrast to Muslims living in Western Europe, where their levels are below average.

77% of Muslim Americans say they have always been Muslim. 23% converted.

23% of Muslim Americans have a high level of religious commitment, which is defined as attending mosque at least once a week, praying all five salah every day, and reporting that religion is “very important” in their lives. 26% have a relatively low level of religious commitment, rarely engaging in these practices and generally regarding religion as less important in their lives. A majority of Muslim Americans (51%) fall somewhere in between.

Regular mosque attendance is particularly high among younger Muslim Americans. 51% of Muslims under age 30 say they attend at least weekly, compared with 36% of those ages 30 to 54 and just 26% of those ages 55 and older.

78% of U.S. Muslims say they are either “very happy” or “pretty happy” with their lives.

Like other Americans, Muslims are generally pleased with the communities in which they live. 72% rate their community as an “excellent” or “good” place to live.

If anything, Muslim Americans are more likely than the general public to believe that hard work is the path to success: 71% of Muslim Americans say that “most people who want to get ahead can make it if they work hard.” A somewhat smaller percentage of the general population (64%) agrees with this statement.

63% of Muslim Americans say they see no conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

53% of all Muslim Americans say that, since the 9/11 attacks, it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the United States. Overall, a third of Muslim Americans interviewed report that they experienced at least one hostile act in the past 12 months.

At the same time, Muslims in the United States are widely concerned about Islamic extremism and express strong disapproval of terrorists and their tactics. In fact, 76% say they are very or somewhat concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism around the world, and 61% say they are concerned about the possible rise of Islamic extremism in the USA. Similarly, more than three-in-four say that suicide bombing in defense of Islam is never justified, and just 5% express favorable views of al Qaeda.

The Rev. Dai Morgan is pastor of Living Spirit Ministry-Swissvale United Methodist Church.

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