Blog Posts on Misconceptions of Islam in America

http://omeka.lib.fsu.edu/files/original/de5f789c906c7caf10c009766b7a5b9b.pdf

A Collection of Blog Posts about Misconceptions of Islam in America

Kellie Nielson, Fall 2015

This is a collection of blog posts discussing common misconceptions of Islam in the United States of America. It consists of 5 blog posts. The first is an introduction to the subject. It tells why it is an important topic to talk about. The second discusses that Muslims are not terrorists, but are given a bad name by extremists. It goes into statistics and quotes from the holy book of Islam. The third explains that Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians. The difference is just that Muslim’s call Him Allah. The fourth describes the role of Jesus as a prophet in Islam. Muslims believe him to be a messenger, but deny that he is a divine being. The fifth focuses on the rights that women have as Muslims under the Quran. It talks about how women’s rights issues are not a problem in the religion of Islam, but instead are a cultural problem in certain countries. Each post attempts to explain the possible origins of the misunderstandings, and what makes it wrong. The goal is to also analyze why these misconceptions still exist, why it is a shame, and what we should do to improve our understanding of other religious traditions. The blog was inspired by Ben Carson’s comment during an interview where he said that he would never vote for a Muslim for president regardless of their character or credentials. As the semester carried on, the blog became even more relevant as the Paris Attacks took place.