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9 - Muslims in the West: North America

from PART I - SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2011

By
Karen Leonard
Edited by
Robert W. Hefner
Robert W. Hefner
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

The North American contexts

In North America, unlike Central and South America where Islam remains an insignificant force, Muslims are overtaking Jews as the principal non-Christian minority group. Canada and the United States have certain similarities: both are predominantly Christian nations with relatively high levels of religious belief and practice and neither country has an establishment church. The twentieth century saw important changes in the religious landscape of the two countries. The mainline Christian denominations so important in the Anglo-Saxon Protestant world have been weakened, in the US by rising educational levels, intermarriage and movement to new localities, and in Canada by growing numbers of people disassociating from organised religion. A second trend is the growing importance of women in religious arenas traditionally dominated by men. Women in America arguably participate more in Christian religious activities and institutions and exercise greater moral authority in religious and civic institutions. Third, particularly in the US, special purpose religious groups have increasingly organised along conservative and liberal lines, mobilising political coalitions on issues like homosexuality and abortion. Fourth, the public dimensions of religious culture in both countries have expanded.

Type
Chapter
Information
The New Cambridge History of Islam , pp. 238 - 253
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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