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Today Column for Week of April 28-May 4: Wanted: An American
Islam  April 24, 2013 — By Paul V.M. Flesher  We readily speak
of “American Christianity” and “American Judaism” and are even
wrapping our minds around the notion of “American Buddhism,”
particularly on the West Coast. So why does the notion of
“American Islam” strike us as strange?  Part of the reason, of
course, stems from 9/11 and the events and politics following in
its wake. But as the fourth (or is it now the third?) largest
religion in the United States, it should be more settled than
that. More than 3 million Americans believe in Islam, about the
same number as American adherents of Buddhism, and only a
million or two less than Judaism. So why does Islam not yet seem
settled? Perhaps because it is only beginning to develop as an
American religion.  Living