AMST 2502 Who are American Muslims?

Study groundbreaking research on American Muslim experiences in all their diversity. Track contemporary trends about not only Americans who are Muslim, but Americans of other faiths and no faith as well. In this interactive course you will examine American Muslims’ perspective within the context of their nation’s religious landscape, not as an isolated specimen.

By tracking the National American Islamophobia Index, researchers at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding have collected five years of data about how much the general public endorses anti-Muslim tropes. The facts, tell a different story, as this course demonstrates. ISPU’s researchers tracked American Muslim civic engagement trends and examined the level of support for religious activists to form coalitions with social and political groups. In this interactive course, you will study with national experts to gain a deeper understanding of the attitudes and policy preferences of American Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, white Evangelicals, the non-affiliated, and the general public. In doing so, you will make important distinctions about institutionalized versus interpersonal discrimination, while looking at the American Muslim experience in the context of a religiously diverse nation.

Contributors

Dalia Mogahed MA

Director of Research
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

Meira Neggaz MALD

Executive Director
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

Dr. Nathan C. Walker

President, 1791 Delegates
Founder, ReligionAndPublicLife.org

Dr. Rebecca A. Karam

Dean's Research Associate, Michigan State University
Muslims for American Progress Project, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

Brittany R. King MA

Delegate, 1791 Delegates
Learning Management System Administrator, ZERO TO THREE

Civic Education for a Common Good

We apply the U.S. Department of Education’s Consensus Statements about Constitutional Approaches for Teaching about Religion

▸ Our approach to religion is academic, not devotional;
▸ We strive for student awareness of religions, but do not press for student acceptance of any religion;
▸ We sponsor the study about religion, not the practice of religion;
▸ We expose students to a diversity of religious views, but may not impose any particular view;
▸ We educate about all religions, we do not promote or denigrate any religion;
▸ We inform students about religious beliefs and practices, it does not seek to conform students to any particular belief or practice.

We apply the American Academy of Religion’s “Religious Literacy Guidelines”

▸ “Religious Literacy Guidelines for College Students.” American Academy of Religion, 2019.
▸ “Teaching About Religion: AAR Guidelines for K-12 Public Schools.” American Academy of Religion, April 2010.

We apply the National Council for the Social Studies C3 Frameworks for Religious Studies

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, “Religious Studies Companion Document for the C3 Framework.” Silver Spring, MD: National Council for the Social Studies, 2017.