TruthBook Religious News Blog

By The Associated Press
March 2, 2009

Gallup Organization interviews with a random sample of 946 Muslim Americans in 2008 shed light on the demographics of this rarely studied group:

RACE: Muslims are the nation's most racially diverse religious group. At least a third of Muslim-Americans are black — mostly converts or children of converts to Islam. "The significant proportion of native-born converts to Islam is a characteristic unique to the United States," Gallup said. More than a quarter call themselves white, while nearly one in five identified as Asian and about as many classified themselves as "other."

RELIGIOSITY: Muslim-Americans are more religious than other Americans, but less likely than those in predominantly Muslim countries to say religion plays an important part in their lives — 80 percent of Muslim-Americans compared to virtually all in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Morocco, for example.

IDEOLOGY: Muslim-Americans are the U.S. religious group most evenly spread out along the political spectrum — 29% liberal, 38% moderate, 25% conservative.

PARTISANSHIP: 49 percent of Muslim-Americans called themselves Democrats, 8 percent Republican and 37 percent independent. Gallup found that among all Americans in 2008 34 percent identified as Democratic, 26 percent Republican and 33 percent independent. But voter registration was relatively low among Muslim-Americans.

OTHER DEMOGRAPHICS: Muslim-Americans skew young, with 36 percent age 18-29, double the rate for the general population. They're more likely than other Americans to be single. Forty percent have at least a college degree, compared to 29 percent of Americans overall. Muslims may be slightly more likely than other Americans to report low household income.

Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for Muslim-Americans, 0.2 points for all Americans.

Labels: American Muslims, Gallup Poll, ideology, partisanship, race, religiosity

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Friday, February 06, 2009

Religion now more divisive than race, says public

AT least four out of 10 Muslims do not believe that communities should be forced to integrate in Britain, according to a new poll.

It also found that religion has become a more divisive issue than race.

The survey for the Government's Equalities and Human Rights Commission revealed that more than half of the public believe it is likely that the UK will have a non-white prime minister within 20 years.

However, the black and Afro-Caribbean community, 56 per cent of which believe that the failings of the 1999 police inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in south-east London in 1993 would still be repeated today, retain some reservations about progress in race relations.

But a greater number of people in all communities apart from Muslims believe that Britain has become more racially tolerant.

Commission chairman Trevor Phillips said: "It is heartening to recognise that here in Britain we have a sophisticated sense of our own identity and an appreciation and interest in difference.

"But we can't be complacent. The survey points to emerging religious divisions.

"And as we mark a darker moment in our own history, the 10th anniversary of the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, it is clear the police still have work to do to convince our ethnic-minority communities they deserve their trust."

Labels: Britain, Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Muslims, race, religion

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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Generation Tolerant

A cellphone poll of California youth shows remarkably liberal attitudes toward race but conservative beliefs on family values.

April 30, 2007

FOR CALIFORNIA'S teenagers and young adults, the answer to Rodney King's question is a definite yes: We can all get along. Race and ethnicity, according to a new survey of Californians ages 16 to 22, are far less significant to this generation than to any in the past.

The survey, sponsored by New America Media, found dramatically liberal attitudes when it comes to the issue of getting along. Two-thirds say they have dated someone of another ethnicity, and a whopping 87% say they would marry or have a life partner of a different race.

Not only are young people encouragingly unconcerned about the skin color or nationality of others, they don't think of themselves much that way, either. When asked the most significant aspects of their identity, they chose music and fashion. Their tribes? Punk-rock skaters, hip-hop activists, salseros.

In terms of what young people consider most important about themselves, race and ethnicity didn't even come in second — that slot went to religion.

Most young adult Californians have many friends outside their own race, the survey found. For Asians and Anglos, the majority of their friends are of different races, while Latinos and blacks said that about 40% of their friends come from different groups.

And as for illegal immigration, basically the kids don't see what the fuss is all about — 82% say illegal immigrants should be given a chance to earn citizenship.

But if you think that California is producing a generation of young liberals, think again. The young people in the survey swing to the right when it comes to family values and religion.

Their No. 1 concern is the breakdown of the family. Second is violence in their neighborhoods.

A majority say they are religious and spiritual. They plan to go to college, have jobs, marry, buy homes, raise kids.

This may seem like a return to the California of the 1950s, but it might be more of a reaction to the perceived sins of their elders. After all, California has one of the highest divorce rates in the United States, is home to more gangs than any other state and purportedly has the highest number of agnostics (although, to be fair, atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rates).

The survey thus suggests that California's youth are sharp critics of their parents, rejecting a culture they perceive as sanctioning loose marital bonds and religious indifference. The state's young adults may just be perfectly out of sync with their parents — sometimes more tolerant and other times more traditional. Which suggests the deepest California tradition of all: time-honored youthful rebellion, rejecting, as every generation does, the ethos of the generation before.

Labels: California, family, immigrants, New America Media, race, religion, spirituality, values, youth