ARAB-AMERICAN CHRISTIANS DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM MUSLIMS – AT 9:30 P.M. ET:  This is a remarkable, if somewhat sad, story about internal tensions within the Arab-American population.  Christians are starting to assert their identity and are moving away from identification with Muslims.  From The Washington Times: 

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Arab Christians here are trying to separate themselves from a boisterous Muslim community that has served as a punching bag for “terrorism” stereotypes since Sept. 11.

Many have moved to Detroit’s northern suburbs — Sterling Heights, Madison Heights, Farmington Hills and the Bloomfield areas — to get away from the high concentration of Muslims in Dearborn, said Pastor Haytham Abi Haydar of Arabic Fellowship Alliance Church. Other Christians, he said, have turned their backs on their Arab heritage and integrated with American culture.

But just like Middle Easterners often assume America is a Christian nation, many Americans assume all Arabs are Muslims. That’s made life in a post-9/11 world difficult for a group of people who is proving religion has no borders.

“On many, many, many occasions, if you’re an Arab, you might as well be a Muslim to many people here,” Mr. Abi Haydar said. “Unfortunately, the majority don’t see the dynamic that Christianity came from the Middle East, that Jesus was from the Middle East.”

Mr. Abi Haydar said some Americans know the difference and do not stereotype. “You can’t label all Americans as ignorant,” he said.

And...

Many of these problems were brought on by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, when he started drawing attention to the Arab community after he masterminded the 9/11 attacks. Arab Christians hope the tension dies now that he’s dead, so they can move on.

COMMENT:  The problems faced by Christian Arab-Americans preceded 9-11.  They always felt they were lumped in with the Muslim majority, and America's problems with Islamic extremism didn't begin with the 9-11 attacks.

I saw this firsthand when a member of my family was operated on by a Lebanese-American surgeon.  He introduced himself to us by saying, "I'm Lebanese.  I'm a Christian."  He wore a cross.  I always thought it odd that a man would introduce himself by religion, but I later learned that the Arab-American Christians want to be seen as a distinct religious culture, and not lumped in.  I suspect we'll be seeing much more of this in the years to come.

May 9, 2011