USA's Muslims under a cloud

USAToday Motaz Elshafi, 28, a software engineer, casually opened an internal e-mail at work last month. The message began, "Dear Terrorist." The note from a co-worker was sent to Muslims working at Cisco Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a few days after train bombings in India that killed 207. The e-mail warned that such violent acts wouldn't intimidate people, but only make them stronger. "I was furious," says Elshafi, who is New Jersey-born and bred. "What did I have to do with this violence?"

You did nothing but that is the problem. These Islamoterrorists have hijacked your faith. If people hear you speaking out against those that have perverted Islam, they will better understand that not all Muslims back what these terrorists are doing. But if you sit quietly when they dominate the news, and then whine that people are considering you equally guilty, how are they to know you are innocent.

.... Though Muslims said they wanted more contact with Americans of other religions, it may be easier for Arab Christians to integrate, Amer speculates. "They share the mainstream religion. Muslims may have different kinds of names or dress differently and, especially since 9/11, they're ostracized more."

I would be happy to sit and discuss anything: religion, politics, the weather, etc with anyone that indicates that what these Islamoterrorists are doing is not supported by Islam.

.... Although the war creates special problems for Iraqi-Americans, they also share a key challenge with other Muslims: lack of trust from people living here. Many Americans clearly don't trust those of the Muslim faith. In fact, 54% said they couldn't vote for a Muslim for president in a June Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. That compares with 21% who turned thumbs-down on an evangelical Christian and 15% who wouldn't cast their ballot for a Jew.

I would be more likely to support someone with an intense faith, whether it was Islam, Christianity, or Judiasm, than I would a Secular Humanist, but if was a Muslim, I would want to hear him denouncing these Islamic terrorists.

Amer believes the world has changed for U.S. Muslims since Sept. 11 but says: "I don't think Americans understand what's happened. Muslims have the same anxieties and anguish about terrorism as everyone else in the U.S. At the same time, they're being blamed for it. They're carrying a double burden."