11 Religion in the United States

The experience of religion in the United States is varied and complex. It is generally taught in school that the United States of America was founded by individuals fleeing religious persecution (Butler et al., 2007). People in the United States proudly declare that religious freedom is a foundation of this country. However, freedom of religion was not always as “free” as the story is told. This chapter will start with a discussion of United States law and religion, provide a brief historical context on religion in the United States, and discuss the current status of two religions facing significant discrimination in the United States today, Judaism and Islam.

United States Law and Religion

The phrase “separation of church and state” was coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 (Ryman & Elkhorn, 2009). The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states that

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (Congress.gov, n.d., para. 1. n.d.)

The United States Supreme Court is responsible for upholding the constitution, and thus protecting the first amendment. However, the First Amendment has been interpreted in different ways by different iterations of the Supreme Court. Thus, separation of church and state in the United States has historically had a rocky, complicated, and inconsistent implementation (Sarat, 2012).

The ramifications of the legal rulings regarding the First Amendment are significant.  However, there are other laws that also impact religious freedoms. Some of the most important laws protecting religious freedom in the United States are labor laws.

In the United States, it is illegal to discriminate based on religion in the workplace.  The US Equal Employment Opportunity Council (EEOC, n.d.) defines religious discrimination as

treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs.  The law protects not only people who belong to traditional, organized religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, or Judaism, but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs. (p. 1)

The EEOC goes on to clarify that it is illegal to discriminate, harass, or segregate based on someone’s religious beliefs and that there is a legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodation for religious practices.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is also used, at times, to protect religious freedom. The Civil Rights Act covers any entity or program which receives any federal funding (US Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Although Title VI does not protect specifically against religious discrimination, it does protect against discrimination based on ancestry, ethnic characteristics, or citizenship from a country with a dominant religion (US Department of Education, n.d.).

Historical Aspect of Religion in the United States

Colonialism and Christianity are intertwined throughout the complex history of the United States. Understanding how religion is experienced in the United States today starts by understanding the history of how the United States was founded and how different political, religious, and cultural forces shaped United States history.

Early Religion in the United States

White settlers brought multiple branches of Christianity to the United States. In the original English colonies, those who did not belong to accepted Christian religions had less rights than those who did. In addition, non-Christian religions were often scorned and those who practiced them, such as Indigenous people, were persecuted, ostracized, converted, and killed.  Davis (2010) described:

In newly independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing papal authority. In 1777, New York State’s constitution banned Catholics from public office (and would do so until 1806). In Maryland, Catholics had full civil rights, but Jews did not. Delaware required an oath affirming belief in the Trinity. Several states, including Massachusetts and South Carolina, had official, state-supported churches. (para. 10)

A Brief History of English Colonization in the United States

The Catholic Church had pervasive political and social influence throughout the Middle Ages. However, in the early 16^th century, dissidents in England rose up, and brought new ideas to Christianity. As the Protestant Reformation took hold in England, conflict developed between the English monarchy and the Catholic Church as well as some smaller branches of Christianity.  Many chose to leave England due to the religious uprising. Some went to other parts of Europe. Others came to America.

The Protestant Reformation is a significant piece of the United States’s origin. America was considered a place where people could freely practice different faiths. Many people migrated from England in hopes that they could establish religious communities without interference from the Catholic Church, the English monarchy, or the Church of England. Those who emigrated across the Atlantic included Puritans, Quakers, Baptists, Shakers, and Jewish people (Gjelten, 2017).

A Brief History of Spanish Colonization in the United States

As the Spanish inquisition took hold in 1492, Queen Isabella of Spain ordered all Jews and Muslims to leave Spain or convert to Christianity. Many fled to America. This immigration expanded with the sailing of Christopher Columbus to the Americas and the Spanish began to occupy much of what are now the southern United States, Central America, and South America. Missionaries saw Indigenous peoples as opportunities to spread Christianity, and “Between 1500 and 1800, as many as 15,000 European priests arrived in the Americas” (Butler et al., 2007, p. 24).

The Spanish explorers and colonists did not allow Indigenous people to openly practice their own religion, and Spanish authorities destroyed whatever Indigenous religious objects they could. The Spanish also built Catholic churches on Indigenous religious sites. In this process, the Spanish created religious, educational, and medical institutions that cemented their presence in America. Many of these sites still exist today (Butler et al., 2007).

Conversion Tactics

The English, Spanish, and later French colonists used different tactics to convert Indigenous people to Christianity, with varying results. In many areas, conversion was violent and resistance was violently squelched. In other areas, such as modern-day Eastern Canada and parts of the Southwest, colonists worked to integrate themselves into Indigenous tribes as part of their conversion tactics (Butler et al., 2007).

No matter how colonists tried to convert them, Indigenous tribes continued to reject Christianity. However, with long-term exposure to Western religion, there was some integration of Indigenous and Christian practices. As time went by, Indigenous generations were born who were only exposed to Western religions and the colonists’ way of life, and some second and third generations of Indigenous people adhered to Christian principles without the need for conversion (Butler et al., 2007).

Shifting Priorities

Religious influence decreased as priorities in the colonies shifted, and in some areas such as Boston, many did not affiliate with any specific religion. While more than 90% of English colonists were Congregationalist or Anglican before 1690, no single religion could claim more than 20% as members by 1770. In addition, magic and other kinds of folk religions were becoming fashionable amongst the colonists. Trade and economic growth slowly became more important than religion to many living in the United States. The Puritans, in particular, felt this decline as Baptist, Presbyterian, and Quaker congregations competed for followers (Butler et al., 2007).

Indigenous People and Religion

Indigenous people practiced their religions for centuries in the Americas prior to the arrival of European settlers. Much of the genocide of Indigenous people in what is now the United States, including the forcing of Indigenous children into boarding schools, occurred because of religious conversion efforts.

Butler et al. (2007) states that less is known about historical Indigenous religious practices than Christianity. What is known is that many Indigenous religions were holistic and did not separate the secular and the sacred. Thus, Indigenous religious beliefs were integrated into day-to-day life. Many Indigenous religions focused on the relationship with nature and many Indiginous rituals included spirits, visions, and dreams (Martin, 1999). Keegan (2022) warns that many scholars oversimplify Indigenous religions, often because the written history we do have is from missionaries who perpetuated Indigenous stereotypes.

Historically, Indigenous tribes did not receive First Amendment protections of religious freedom because their belief systems did not fit into Christian definitions of religion (Pluralism.org, 2020b). As Indigenous communities were forced onto reservations and their children moved into boarding schools, laws and policies were implemented to continue to prohibit their freedom to practice religion. In 1883, the Code of Indian Offenses was implemented. The code established Western-style law on the reservations. However, it also prohibited Indigenous religious practices. Tatum (2018) points out that this law, along with harsh penalties for practicing Indigenous religions, violated the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

In 1933, the Code of Indian Offenses was amended to reinstate Indigenous people’s right to dance. However, implementation was complex and intermittent. Often authorities on reservations withheld essential supplies, such as food, to coerce Indigenous people to not practice their religious ceremonies (Pluralism.org, 2020b). It was not until the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) in 1978 that the United States government acknowledged that federal policies were prohibiting Indigenous people from practicing their traditional religions. AIRFA protects the right of Indigenous people to practice traditional ceremonies, to access sacred ceremonial sites, and to possess sacred objects (Proctor, 2014). While AIRFA protects Indigenous religions on paper, the Supreme Court at the time of this writing has never ruled in the favor of Indigenous people when cases have been brought forth under AIRFA (Pluralism.org, 2020b; Tatum, 2018).

In an effort to align with the dominant Christian framework of the time and to assert their First Amendment right to religious freedom, tribal leaders in Oklahoma established the Native American Church of Jesus Christ in 1918 (Hinton, 2018). The church is still active today as a “loose confederation” (Pluralism.org, 2020a, para. 6). Their leaders are called Road Men and they continue to integrate Christian and Indigenous belief systems, including the ceremonial use of peyote (Pluralism.org, 2020a). In 1990, the Supreme Court did not protect members of the Native American Church in their peyote rituals, instead deferring to the laws of the State of Oregon, which considered peyote to be an illegal substance. Many feel this was in direct violation of AIRFA (Pluralism.org, 2020a).

Current trends in Indigenous religious practices in the United States have proven difficult to study. Often, religious polling excludes Indigenous religions and people. That said, research shows that most Indigenous religions still have commonalities such as deep kinship ties, community connection, ties to geographic place, and ties to the cycles of nature (Garroutte et al., 2014).

African Slaves and Religion

While many Europeans emigrated to the United States to practice their religion unobstructed, the enslavement of African people was a different kind of immigration. Slaves were seen as a commodity in the early United States and there was little effort to convert African slaves to Christian religions. Slave owners feared that slaves would see themselves as equal and revolt if introduced to Christianity. Due to these fears, African slaves were not allowed to form congregations. However, many African slaves practiced both native religions and Christianity in secret (Butler et al., 2007).

Enslaved African people practiced many religions in the early United States. Many African slaves continued to practice their local and traditional religions of West Africa. The West African religious practices varied; however, many included a single deity who was supreme and incorporated herbal medicine and charms (Mohamed et al., 2021). Despite being regularly practiced, none of the traditional African religious practices were able to be sustained in the United States (Butler et al, 2007).

Some of the slaves who arrived in the United States were already Christian or Muslim due to African colonization. As they were not allowed to form congregations, African Christian congregations developed their own style of worship, including the development of Christian worship songs based on the plight of the Israelites’ escapes from Egypt, which resonated with their slave experience (Mohamed et al., 2021).

In the early 1800s, a freed Black slave, Richard Allen, started the first Black Protestant church, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Allen had been a Methodist preacher, but did not feel welcome in the church, so he decided to start his own. Similarly, the AME Zion church was founded in 1821. After the United States Civil War, the AME churches sent missionaries to the southern states to bring Black Christians into the Black churches.

Attendance in the AME churches swelled throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Beyond religious services, the AME church communities provided job training, insurance, reading materials, education, and athletic clubs. The AME churches were often the only places where Black people were allowed leadership roles (Mohamed et al., 2021).

In 1930, the Nation of Islam was founded by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad which provided a foundation for Black nationalism in Islamic beliefs. Muhammad preached that God was Black and that the first man created in his image was also Black. Muhammad professed that Black people were the superior race (PBS, n.d.a). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Nation of Islam actively built mosques in urban areas and recruited formerly incarcerated Black men. (National Archives, n.d.).  The Nation of Islam has continued to be a religious presence in the United States and is currently led by Louis Farrakhan (Mohamed, 2021).

In 1975, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was established, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King spoke out against racism and discrimination using both political and religious arguments. King believed that pluralism, or the coming together of many religions, was important to the civil rights movement (Whitaker, 2023). Although King is now viewed as a civil rights icon, at the time, many at the SCLC did not support his pluralistic ideals. Unsupported, King left the SCLC and, ultimately, founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention, which fully supported his civil rights efforts (Mohamed, 2021).

Currently, Black Americans are statistically more likely to be religious than non-Black Americans. However, religious affiliation is on the decline in all demographics. Of Black Americans who report that they do go to church, 60% say they do so in a predominantly Black church. This number is lower for younger Black Americans and higher for Black elders (Mohamed, 2021). “The research also shows that Black Protestants are the only Christian group in which a majority—63%—believes that congregations should get involved in social issues even if doing so means having difficult conversations” (DeRose, 2023, para. 9).  DeRose reported this statistic is probably due to the historical involvement of Black churches in the civil rights movement.

Other Populations and Religion

While history often focuses on White, Christian settlers and religion, it must also be acknowledged that other cultures and religions came to the United States in a variety of ways. People other than Christian European settlers came to the United States in search of religious freedom as well. Borja (2021) states: “America has always been much more than a tri-faith nation of Protestants, Catholics and Jews” (p. 1).  Their experiences were rich and complex, and these communities helped build the country the United States is today.

Borja (2021) points out that immigrants from Asian countries were present for much of the early history of the United States. “Chinese immigrants established the first Buddhist temple in the United States in San Francisco in 1853, and Sikhs built the first Gurdwara in the United States in nearby Stockton in 1912” (Borja, 2021, p. 1). The most often cited Eastern religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. As of 2020, around 1% of the population of the United States identifies as Buddhist and another 1% as Hindu. In addition, another 0.5%-1% of the US population identifies as “other,” which may include Eastern religions (PRRI, 2020). Eastern religions date back over 2000 years and generally refer to religious and philosophical practices that began on the continent of Asia (Harrison, 2019). Eastern religions are often framed philosophically, and Harrison points out that despite the conventional approach of lumping Eastern religions together, they vary in philosophy, belief, and cultural context across a large geographic region.

Interestingly, the trajectory of Eastern religions in the United States has been different from many other religions. There is less literature that discusses discrimination based on Eastern religious practices and more literature on the concerns around cultural appropriation of Eastern religious practices. For example, though Buddhism has seen a surge in popularity in the United States since the 1960s, many scholars point out that it is a White-centric, “Hollywood” version of Buddhism. While more than two thirds of Buddhists in the United States are Asian American, White voices dominate the religion (Kandil, 2021). Deshpande (2017) agrees, pointing out that her Hindi yoga practices, which are more than 2000 years old, have become a White-centric fitness practice.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differs from some of the other religions because it was founded in the United States. Historically referred to as Mormons, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians, yet its members have a history of being persecuted in the United States that continues today (PEW Research Center, 2012). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in three levels of heaven and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate gods versus the more traditional Christian concept of the Trinity (Harris, 2012; History.com, 2021). In the mid- to late 1800s, followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were driven out from their midwestern homes by anti-Mormon sentiment. In 1844, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob while incarcerated in Carthage, Illinois. In 1847, following Smith’s murder, a large group of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had been driven from Illinois settled in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were led by Brigham Young (Harris; History.com). Currently, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make up approximately 1.7% of the population of the United States and close to 50% of the population in Utah (Pew Research Center, 2009).

In 2012, the Pew Research Center did an extensive study on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They found that 62% of followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints felt that people in the United States are uninformed about their religion, and that nearly half felt that followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints face discrimination in the United States due to their religion. Two-thirds felt that people in the United States do not see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a part of mainstream American society (Pew Research Center, 2012).

The United States is becoming more secular, and church attendance has recently fallen below 50% (Glasze & Schmitt, 2018). Approximately 29% of the population of the United States does not identify with any religion. This statistic has increased from previous surveys and is anticipated to continue to rise. Non-religious individuals identify as agnostic, atheist, or just identify as “nothing in particular” in survey data (Smith, 2021, para. 7).  Glasze and Schmitt found that nonbelievers experienced significant discrimination when they shared their views with others. In addition, Glasze and Schmitt found that nonbelievers are often viewed with suspicion, seen as immoral or untrustworthy, and are perceived as pushing their nonbelief on others, particularly in workplace settings.

Religion and Social Justice

While religious persecution has complicated history in the United States, religion has also played a significant role in social justice movements. The civil rights movement is an example (Cooper, n.d.). In addition, social justice is often seen as a moral imperative, and thus important in many religions. Religion often plays a role in social change and people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Mahatma Gandhi all viewed social change through a religious lens. Other examples include the anti-slavery movement, welfare reform, and women’s suffrage (Cooper).

While religion is intertwined with social justice movements in many ways, it is difficult to separate out religious discrimination from other kinds of discrimination. The intersection of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion must be acknowledged. On the surface, the United States welcomes all religions; it is part of our Constitution and history as a country. Yet in examining the history of religion in the United States, the prominence of Christianity has clearly muddled the separation of church and state. Examples include our president swearing in on a Bible, Christmas as a national holiday, and “In God We Trust” being printed on our currency. Historically, there has not been equal treatment of religion under the law, and this is problematic in social justice movements.

In addition to the systemic issue of Christian influence in the United States, individual religious discrimination is also a complex experience. Again, intersecting identities make it hard to separate out religious discrimination versus other kinds of discrimination. Thus, someone who is Black may experience discrimination based on their race but not because they are Christian, and someone who is White may experience privilege because of their race but be discriminated against because they are a follower of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Religious discrimination happens often in the United States. Much like other forms of discrimination, religious discrimination can be overt and systemic or covert and individualized. There are entire books dedicated to religion and religious discrimination. However, for the purposes of this text, a choice had to be made in terms of what to highlight. Thus, while acknowledging that there are many other stories and experiences in the United States around religion, we have chosen to focus this section on two religions that are currently and glaringly experiencing discrimination. These are the Jewish and Muslim faiths.

Judaism in the United States

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. There are 14 million Jewish people worldwide (History.com, 2023) and Jewish people make up 1–2% of the population in the United States (PRRI, 2021). Jewish people believe in one God who revealed Himself to ancient prophets and in the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Most Jewish people do not believe that Jesus was crucified and then raised from the dead three days later. Jewish people worship in synagogues and their spiritual leaders are referred to as rabbis. Their sacred text is the Tanakh. The Tanakh contains the same content as the Christian Bible’s Old Testament, but some of it is in slightly different order (History.com, 2023).

The Spanish Inquisition led to significant Jewish migration to the United States starting in 1492. During Colonial times, most Jews in the English colonies were Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. Jewish people settled in many metropolitan areas, such as New York City and Philadelphia, and began to establish synagogue-communities, which served the Jewish population in those cities. During the Civil War, there were Jewish people on both sides. However, xenophobic tensions increased during this time, and antisemitism and Jewish stereotyping surged. By the 1800s, the United States saw an infusion of Eastern European Jews, bringing the Yiddish language with them. Often these Ashkenazic immigrants had different religious tenets from the Jews already living in the developing United States, leading to some in-group discrimination (Sarna & Golden, n.d.).

The Holocaust Museum (n.d.) defines Antisemitism as “prejudice against or hatred of Jews” (para 1). Antisemitism has occurred since ancient times and scholars argue that the source of this antisemitism goes back to the role that Jewish people played in the crucifixion of Christ. This attitude shifted some in 1965 when, at a meeting of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church repealed the theme of Jewish responsibility for the crucifixion. The term “Judeo-Christian tradition” resulted from this meeting (Anti-Defamation League, 2023).

Hernandez (2021) states that nearly one quarter of Jewish Americans experienced antisemitism in 2020. The Anti-Defamation League (2023) states that in 2022 they recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents since 1979 and, in 2022, a report by Tel Aviv University found that antisemitism is rising in the United States (Associated Press, 2023). Huffnagle and Bandler (2023) referred to this trend as “The mainstreaming of antisemitism in American society” (para. 3). Examples of antisemitic incidents include vandalism, harassment, and assault (Shveda, 2023). Interestingly, this trend only seems to be happening in the United States. Other countries with large Jewish populations, such as England and Canada, have seen a decrease in antisemitism (Associated Press, 2023).

Jewish people continue to feel unsafe in the United States. In a 2022 report, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) found that antisemitism is felt on a deeply personal level. Often, protecting oneself from antisemitism involves a suppression of personal identity, which in turn alters behavior. Examples cited included avoiding posting online content that clearly identified an individual as a Jew, avoiding wearing traditional Jewish clothing or accessories, and avoiding certain places or situations (Huffnagle & Bandler, 2023). Huffnagle and Bandler go on to state that American Jews feel less safe in America than they did the previous year, and that security at United States synagogues has increased.

The internet has become a place where antisemitism is a significant concern. Eighty-two percent of the population has observed antisemitism online. Huffnagle and Bandler (2023) state that

The prevalence of antisemitism online has made the virtual communications sphere, with its limitless reach, the leading space for anti-Jewish prejudice, conspiracies, and hatred, and younger American Jews are more likely to be experiencing this form of hate. (para. 17)

Of those who reported experiencing antisemitism online, 72% did not report it to the online platform. Many of the participants who were younger Jews felt physically threatened in their online interactions (Huffnagle & Bandler, 2023).

Personal contact with Jews makes one more aware of antisemitism and decreases the likelihood of engaging in antisemitic behavior (Huffnagle & Bandler, 2023). In addition, Davis (2022) recommends that individuals call out antisemitism when they see it. This may be in larger public and political spaces, such as cutting contracts with celebrities who make antisemitic remarks, or in personal settings, such as pointing out when someone makes antisemitic comments or jokes. In addition, Davis points out that when the media gives someone a platform for their antisemitic views through continuous news coverage, this may amplify those views. He recommends that those in power who make antisemitic statements be called out and publicly denounced.

Islam in the United States

Islam is also one of the dominant world religions. Those who practice Islam are called Muslims. It is not clear when the first Muslims arrived in the United States. Many point to African Muslims brought as slaves. However, some argue that small pockets of Muslims arrived in the Americas by the 14^th century. Between 1878 and 1924, the United States saw a surge of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, many of whom settled west of the original 13 colonies. By 1952, there were more than 1,000 mosques in the United States (PBS, n.d.b).

Muslims believe there is one God and many prophets, the last of which was Muhammad.  In Islam, God is called Allah and the place of worship is called a mosque. Muslims have six major beliefs and five pillars (URI.org, n.d.).

The six major beliefs are

• Belief in one God—Allah
• Belief in the Angels
• Belief in three holy books—the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an.
• Belief in multiple prophets sent by God, which includes Jesus, who is seen as a prophet and not the son of God
• Belief in the day of judgment and life after death
• Belief in divine decree that everything happens with God’s permission but God has given people free will; God will question everyone when they die about how they lived (URI.org, n.d.)

The five pillars are

• Shahadah—the declaration of faith
• Salat—the five daily prayers
• Zakah—almsgiving of 2.5% of wealth to the poor and needy
• Sawm—fasting during Ramadan
• Hajj—pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime (URI.org, n.d.)

Muslims are about 1% of the total population of the United States. That said, Muslim population is forecasted to increase to 2.1% by the year 2025, which will equate to about 8.1 million Muslims in the United States. This anticipated increase is due to a combination of increased immigration from politically unstable Muslim countries and the generally young demographic of the Muslim population who are expected to have children in the United States (Constante, 2018). While Muslim and Middle Eastern or Arab are often used interchangeably, they are not interchangeable. Muslim communities in the United States include individuals from all ethnic groups. In addition, up to two thirds of all Arab Americans in the United States identify as Christian (Peek, 2011).

Being Muslim has become intertwined with being Arab or Middle Eastern in the United States, and it is often difficult to pull that intersectionality apart. Peek (2011) describes this well:

In the aftermath of 9/11, the media and public officials often used the terms “Muslim” and “Arab” interchangeably. This conflation of categories led to the perception among many that all Muslims are Arab and that all Arabs are Muslim. This is certainly not the case. Muslim is an identifier used to describe those who believe in the religion of Islam, and thus Muslims can come from any nation and be of any racial or ethnic background. An estimated 1.57 billion Muslims live in countries spanning the globe, and only about 20 percent of the world’s Muslims reside in Arabic-speaking countries. (p. 11)

The Pre-9/11 Experience of Being Muslim in the United States

Muslims were in the Americas before the colonies were established and have been in what is now the United States since the 14^th century (PBS, n.d.b). That said, finding history of the Muslim population is difficult due to dominant Puritan influences and the slave trade. Interestingly, there are hints that Muslim culture influenced the Spanish colonists and that while the Muslim faith was looked upon with some suspicion, it also was integrated into some of colonial life (Haselby, 2019).

In the early 20^th century, many Muslim families in developing countries sent children to college in the United States. Some of these students remained in the United States, and pockets of American Muslim communities continued to grow in most major cities. As of 2011, nearly 60% of American Muslims had college degrees, including a significant portion of Muslim women. Thus, American Muslims are less likely to experience poverty and many work in well paying, professional jobs (Peek, 2011).

Despite this economic success, the stereotypes of Muslims were persistent even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Many of these stereotypes were derived from film and television. Depictions of Muslims in the media included equating the Muslim daily prayer with guns and violence, the oppression of women, holy wars, and terrorism. Muslims were depicted as violent, primitive, and hateful (Peek, 2011).

The Post-9/11 Experience of Being Muslim in the United States

Prior to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2021, religious discrimination was the least reported type of discrimination (Dean, 2016). However, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed the relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans in a variety of ways. Peek (2011) points out the negative role the media played in the experience of American Muslims following the attacks: “In the aftermath of 9/11, religious leaders, politicians, media pundits, and self-proclaimed terrorism experts exploited the feelings of an already-terrified citizenry by offering gross overgeneralizations and blatantly incorrect depictions” (p. 5).

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, discrimination towards American Muslims intensified and religious discrimination claims to the U.S. Department of Justice more than doubled (Dean, 2016). Americans started to perceive Islam as a threat, and many believed that Muslims wanted to kill all Christians and Jews. Muslims endured racial profiling, arrest, threats, bullying, harassment, and calls for Muslim bans. Anti-Muslim hate included the federal government raiding mosques, Muslims being denied boarding on planes, Muslim children being bullied, and American Muslims being discriminated against in the workplace. In addition, Arab men were arrested, detained without council, and deported (Peek, 2011).

Islam continues to grow in the United States with the number of mosques in the United States doubling between 2000 and 2020. In 2006 the first Muslim was elected to the House of Representatives. However, even more than 20 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, religious discrimination continues to be an issue for American Muslims, with 48% reporting they had personally experienced some sort of discrimination in 2017 (Mohamed, 2021).

When people in the United States who are non-Muslim know someone who is Muslim, they are more likely to view Muslim individuals favorably. Personal contact with Muslim peers leads to people being more likely to both see Muslims as nonviolent and object to violations of their civil liberties. Research has shown that many people in the United States do not understand the Muslim faith and that this lack of understanding leads to more discrimination (Muhamed, 2021; Peek, 2011).

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