America may be more religious than Iraq ever has been, one panelist suggested Saturday during a University of Utah forum to discuss Islam in the United States.
"I see something very interesting that America is more religious than Iraq was or is," said panelist Muqtedar Khan from the Department of Political Science at the University of Delaware.
"When you look at the U.S., it will appear a lot less religious than it is," Khan said. "If you look at Muslim nations . . . they will seem more religious than they actually are."
Khan said he believes this is because people in the U.S. tend to justify decisions from a perspective of logic and rationale, whereas people in Muslim nations tend to justify decisions based on religion.
A second session is scheduled for today, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at the University of Utah Guest House, 110 S. Fort Douglas Blvd. The public is invited to attend.
Saturday afternoon's program included short presentations and an informal roundtable discussion between panelists.
Program chairman and moderator Bernard Weiss of the University of Utah said the forum is intended to be more of an "informal conversation than an academic event" in which participants can share ideas.
Items discussed included the differences between religion in Muslim countries and the United States, the role of women in Islam and religious pluralism.
Edina Lekovic of the Muslim Women's League spoke about some of the problems facing Muslim women in America. One of those problems includes what she called "additional segregation."
Muslim women are further segregated into traditional and modern, those who wear head scarves and those who don't, and between subjugated and liberated, she said. This is seen by men as a lack of understanding among women of who they are and what they want.
Standing up for each other is a solution for that, she said.
"The question is one of religious literacy," she said.
When women are educated they are better able to make decisions for themselves, she said.
Fellow panelist Amir Hussain from the Department of Religious Studies at California State University, spoke of another misconception some people have of Islamic beliefs.
"Many of my students who haven't read the Quran think that the Quran is a book of violence and that the Bible isn't," he said.
E-mail: jgreaves@desnews.com