I'm glad that was cleared up

[Lou Cypher]

Imagine that, all this time I was mistaken, mistaken in the belief that my country was one of the largest, if not the largest Christian countries in the world.
But hey, you learn something new every day; I come to find out from our President that we are one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.
But I think the countries of Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, China, Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Tanzania, Syria, Malaysia, Niger, Senegal, Ghana, Tunisia, Somalia, Guinea, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso and Tajikistan would beg to differ, seeing that they have a larger Muslim population than us.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/06/obama_america_one_of_the_large_1.asp


Lou :globe:

[Mighty Pirate]

Perhaps he meant that you have a significant percentage of muslim citizens. However such figures are often fudged. Australia claims to be mostly christian but how many of us go to church or would even identify ourselves as such? So often religions are used to identify race. I'm sure not all muslims are devout just as not all christians go to church.

What is significant however, and worth remembering, is that you are no longer a culturally homogenous nation (if you ever were) and that religions can mobilise a lot of people into civil unrest or political activism. In other words, such groups cannot be ignored; minorities count for something.

I personally felt optimistic at Obama's outstretched hand to the muslim world. Suspicion and war isn't a winning strategy if the goal is world peace.

[Terry Penrod]

.

By far the fastest growing segment of the legal U.S. population is Hispanic and trust me, there are VERY few Muslim Hispanics in America (or anywhere else for that matter).

Otherwise, the overwhelming majority of white and black U.S. citizens associate with one denomination of Christianity or another.

Moreover, the bulk of illegal aliens flowing into the U.S. are from Mexico and they are definitely NOT Muslims. I know because I live quite near a huge Hispanic community on the southwest border and I have never even heard of - let alone met - a single Hispanic Muslim. Neither have my family members in Florida, which has a very large Cuban population. Nor have my close friends, family members and business associates in Los Angeles; New York City, Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; and Boston ever met one that I know of.

The above is fairly solid, current info too, as I just finished doing an in-depth case study in behalf of a business client for his masters studies on current U.S. population / demographic trends. He is Hispanic and has an extremely large family in this country with close ties to practically every Mexican-American community we have. He is also related to the president of the largest Hispanic ad agency in the U.S. and they have very accurate, up-to-date statistics related to that whole population segment.

Additionally, I have a close friend and longtime business associate who is Muslim. He also has a very large, multi-generational family here in America and most of them have parted from the restrictive, old, Middle-Eastern traditions. They may still call themselves Muslim, but they have all completely adapted to American life and some of the kids are even beginning to steer away from Islam altogether.

The bottom-line is that many of our Muslim citizens have very different lifestyles and beliefs than those still living in the Middle East and I don't see any evidence of substantial growth in their numbers here. So, where exactly are all these U.S. Muslims supposed to be? It can't be the convertees in the black community, because their total numbers just aren't that high and the majority of black Americans are still Christians.

Cheers, Terry

[Lou Cypher]

Perhaps he meant that you have a significant percentage of muslim citizens. However such figures are often fudged
Estimates range from 1.5 to 8 million Muslims in the U.S., out of 305 million hardly makes us "One of the Largest Muslim Countries in the World" as Obama would have us believe, but what makes this statement striking is not to long ago he said…..
"One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
So I don’t know what thought process he wen’t through for him to say we are "One of the Largest Muslim Countries in the World", unless he was just pandering, but a politician would never do that would they.


Lou :globe:

[merlin3791]

Lou I think you have to take into account the fact that the US has a large population compared to the other countries you listed as having more muslims.

I decided to take one of the countries you listed as having more to see how they compare to us. I chose Kenya for no specific reason ( I know nothing about the place)

Kenya has a total population of 36,913,721 and 10% of Kenyan's are considered to be Muslim. So Kenya has 3,691,372 muslims.

If the US has up to 8 million muslims, even though thats a small percentage of our total population, it's more than double what Kenya has.

I got my figures on Kenya from here: http://www.historycentral.com/nationbynation/Kenya/Population.html

[Rob]

From what I have read, I have to give this one to Lou. Even if you are correct Merlin and he was going by percentages, he did not make that clear at all.

[Joe Cool]

Lou I think you have to take into account the fact that the US has a large population compared to the other countries you listed as having more muslims.

I decided to take one of the countries you listed as having more to see how they compare to us. I chose Kenya for no specific reason ( I know nothing about the place)

Kenya has a total population of 36,913,721 and 10% of Kenyan's are considered to be Muslim. So Kenya has 3,691,372 muslims.

If the US has up to 8 million muslims, even though thats a small percentage of our total population, it's more than double what Kenya has.

I got my figures on Kenya from here: http://www.historycentral.com/nationbynation/Kenya/Population.html

Agreed.

Its all relative. I mean India has over 17 million Catholics. A large amount, bigger then the total population of many "Catholic" nations. However, it is tiny when compared to India's total population.

[RHooks]

Maybe he just meant we are a large country. And we have Muslims in it.

[Mighty Pirate]

I think the point he was trying to make was that he was the President of a sizable number of muslim citizens and therefore, entitled to address the other muslim world leaders as one of them. In not as a muslim leader, then as a leader of muslims.

[Mikell]

"Actually, if you look at the number of Jewish Americans, we'd be the largest Jewish country in the world after Israel. And America is the largest Christian country in the world. This context might be useful to the president as he tries to help the Muslim world better understand the United States."

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Lou Cypher]

And that would be called pandering Mikell :):

Lou :globe:

[Terry Penrod]

.

"Actually, if you look at the number of Jewish Americans, we'd be the largest Jewish country in the world after Israel. And America is the largest Christian country in the world. This context might be useful to the president as he tries to help the Muslim world better understand the United States."

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Now that statement is accurate and it most certainly explains America's close relationship and strong support of Israel. BUT it would probably not be a very good idea to stress that fact when addressing Middle-East Muslims.

Instead, Obama chose to highlight the fact that the USA is indeed home to many Muslims (too) and IMO, he was simply being smart about addressing his audience in a non-confrontational way that focused on the common ground we share with Islamic nations in the Middle East.

However, he totally overstated the facts and that was the point of the article that Lou linked above.

While I agree that the president should have phrased this differently, the gist of his speech was truthful and it clearly demonstrated a major shift in the attitude that our government will be taking toward Middle-East affairs from now on.

Obama has now gone on public record as being FAR less combative and more willing to meet traditional foes halfway. I support that strategy because the old, acrimonious rhetoric was getting us nowhere at all and if we are ever going to help bring peace to that region, we simply must act as the great moderator or partner, NOT the great conquerer or "savior".

One thing is for sure folks, Islamic factions (at pretty much every level) do NOT respond well to threats or impositions or condescending, self-righteous platitudes. They are also fiercely defensive about their beliefs, traditions and territory.

The best way I can think of to reach some sort of reasonably sane climate for serious, productive peace talks is by showing these people a little respect - while reminding them that millions of Americans are indeed Muslims. In that regard, Obama was and is right on target.

Cheers, Terry

.

[Mighty Pirate]

This thread has really amused me. Political leaders have to be so careful what they say. But it's traditional for American Presidents when travelling abroad to try and identify with their audience by stressing those things they have in common instead of stressing their differences.

Which is why JFK's declaration to West Berlin 'Ich bin ein Berliner' is still played on Australian TV. Berliners are a rather delicious large soft doughnut split in half with jam and cream..... yumm yumm..... :D:

.. hang on... that might be a Kitchener bun. Yup, I've just asked my menfolk and they said the Berliners are the same thing only iced and not split.

[Lou Cypher]

I agree Terry that maybe Obama did make a connection to middle east Muslims, but overall the speech fell short, and not just what he said, but what he didn't say, a disapointing speech as a whole.


Lou :globe: