1. What contributes to the difference in compatibility between Muslims and Western
nations and Islam and Western nations?
2. Could you talk to us a bit about survey methodology and how different types of surveys
(by phone, in-person, online, etc.) impact data collection or results?
a. Ideas of “social desirability bias”
b. How to draft impartial questions
3. How do you think the integration of religious education in schools contributes to how
different faiths are perceived throughout society? Has this differed by generation?
a. Example, the Holocaust and some Jewish ideology is taught for several years in
schools, and Judaism thus often has a positive image attached to it in the West,
with sympathy for what many Jews endured during the Holocaust. Genocides of
other ethno-religious groups, such as the Uighur Muslims, are rather condoned, on
the other hand.
b. Is there a place for religious education in schools? How do we combat the
argument that it is not secular?
4. Could you talk a bit about the history of the Nation of Islam and how its ideology might
differ from other denominations?
5. What can we make of the geographical trends we see among black Muslims and black
Christians in the US?
a. What significance is there in black Muslims being more likely to live in urban
areas than are black Christians? (Article: Black Muslims account for a fifth of all
US Muslims, and about half are converts to Islam)
6. How do political affairs intersect with faith? Is the blurred line between politics and
religion comparable to that between culture and religion?
7. What social structures have made it so that black millennials are more religious than
other millennials? What might be the cause of the difference in religiousness between
millennials and older generations?
8. In a recent article, it was cited that 47% of Black churchgoers who attend Black
Protestant churches heard sermons that address topics such as race relations and racial
inequality in the prior 12 months, and a similar share say they heard sermons on voting,
protesting or other forms of political engagement. By comparison, 35% of Black
Protestants who attend White Protestant churches or churches where some other race is
the majority say they heard sermons on race relations, and 26% said they heard sermons
on political engagement.
a. How can we deconstruct this in the context of recent racial violence and racial
justice movements?
b. How critical are religious spaces for having these important conversations and
dialogues? To educate oneself, to see how to respond based on faith
understandings, to stand in solidarity?
