According to the September 22^nd, 2001 Issue of the economist magazine, page 31, the Majority of Arab- Americans are Christians.

The economist stated the following:

Four in five Arab- Americans were born in the United States. Almost all trace their origins to one of two large waves of immigration. The first stated at the end of the 19^th century, and consisted mainly of Lebanese Christians from what was then Greater Syria. Many of them traveled the country selling clothes and other necessities to remote farms. In time, they settled down and opened shops, some of which have grown into big clothing or retail businesses. Other Lebanese immigrants flocked to the factories of Detroit and Henry Ford’s offer of $5 a day.

The second wave of Arab immigration followed the reopening of America’s gates to immigrants in 1965, and increased after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. This wave was more divers than the first, including Palestinians, Yemenis and others fleeing from oppression in their home countries, such as Christians and Shias from Iraq. They have tended to gather in big cities, not only Detroit but also Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington.

Because of all this, Arab-Americans are notably different from Arabs in the Middle East. One striking difference is that three-quarters of Arab- Americans are Christians, compared with only 5% of Arabs in the Middle East. Further to confound the stereotypes, the largest contingent of America’s 6m Muslims is black, not Arab.

And a breakdown by religion of Arab Americans are 42% catholic, 23% orthodox, 12% protestant, and 23% Muslim, i.e. 77% are Christian and only 23%are Muslim. Furthermore a breakdown by origin is as follows: 56% from Lebanon, 14% from Syria, 11% from Egypt, 9% from Palestine, 4% from Jordan, 2% from Iraq, and 4% categorized as other. Furthermore, most of the Muslims in the US are blacks not Arabs.

Therefore Islamic organizations in the USA should not speak on behalf of Arab-Americans, as they have no right to do so.