Not in recent memory have "Christianity" and "Judaism" received more media attention than this year in Holy Week and during Passover. Magazine cover stories, television programs, films, and newspapers gave attention to Jesus, to Jewish meanings and practices, and the like. Yet, by the week's end, these were yielding space to two front-page, prime-time religious references and what they represented: "Shi'ite" and "Sunni," as in "Islam." Media directed their attention to Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the Muslim worlds. Yet, what happens far away has implications at home, as it has for several years.

Fortunately timed for the season, a recent study of greater Detroit offers a glimpse of attitudes among domestic Muslims. The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), an agency that studies the (best guess?) six to eight million Muslims in the United States, is particularly interested in what 9/11 terrorism here and wars involving Muslims elsewhere have done to local Muslims' attitudes. Some of the comments sound a bit hyperbolic. Thus, the expert Yvonne Haddad at Georgetown called the new ISPU study "absolutely accurate," saying it matched her studies of Los Angeles, D.C., and elsewhere.

Prof. Haddad saw changes among American Muslim to be "a response to the incredible anti-Muslim campaign in the United States." Sightings has commented on some of this, especially the dismissals of the faith of a billion people as being simply "wicked and evil." On the other hand, by our count -- am I missing something? -- there have been only two bodies in the killing fields, those of two Sikhs mistaken for Muslims. Yes, there are defacings of some mosques, as there are of synagogues, and churches are set upon now and then as well. But so far, violent aggression by non-Muslims has focused on Al Qaeda, "Islamists," fundamentalist terrorists, and not the Muslim neighbor.

According to Geneive Abdo in The Chicago Tribune (April 6), Muslims, especially the young, are more religious and more politically active than before. Mosque attendance is up: 54 percent claim to worship weekly -- that's way above Christian and way, way above Jewish participation. Only 8 percent favor hardline ("Salafi") approaches, over 50 percent follow "classical school" or "great scholars," and 38 percent favor a "contextual approach," which matches majority Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and, yes, Evangelical lines: "creating flexibility in Islam to make it compatible with modern times."

Many, especially the young, like their religious neighbors (but unlike mosque-goers elsewhere), do not confine the use of their place of worship to worship ends. Now it must become a social center as well. There is growth in desire for Islamic education. "The younger generation could be more religious than their parents." Many Muslims say, keep America American, which means let moderate Islam fit in here, but "Islamic law should play a greater role in Muslim countries" elsewhere.

No surprise: 26 percent said they "strongly agreed" that America is immoral, 35 percent said they "somewhat agreed." Don't we all, though we may mean different things when pointing to immoralities.

We'll keep our eyes open and report on trends like these. 

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.