The difficulties that American Muslims have had with Islam’s depiction in the U.S. news media deserve a separate, full-scale report.  In fact, we include that among our recommendations. This report tried to identify the misunderstandings between the news media and organized religion, and their respective failings, in ways that might be seen as pertinent to any faith group.

Muslims justifiably worry that the terrorist activities of groups which call themselves Muslim have colored public opinion strongly against all followers of Islam. The term “Muslim terrorist” is a non sequitur, they say, because if you are truly Muslim, you could not be a terrorist. The combination of words, while attractive for its brevity, should be replaced by longer but more accurate identifications. Not only that, Salam al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, noted that radicals calling themselves Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Christian commit violent acts in various parts of the world, too.  “These movements are equally fanatic and threatening, but extremism in the Muslim world receives disproportionate alarm,” he wrote in an article for USA TODAY.