The Limits of Tolerance: Muslims in America and the Middle East

The debate over the compatibility of Islam and Democracy has a long lineage. In recent years, however, it has garnered renewed interest due to expanding Muslim populations in established. Western democracies and heightening democratic ambitions in Muslim-majority societies. Skeptics of Muslims' democratic bona fides often associate the religion of Islam or its adherents with intolerance while apologists counter these claims with historical and scriptural evidence to the contrary. Dr. Youssef Chouhoud takes a more contextual approach in this lecture, asking when are Muslims intolerant. He presents empirical evidence from recent surveys of American Muslims and Tunisians demonstrating, first, the added psychological barriers minorities in America face when expressing tolerant attitudes and, second, the optimistic (if precarious and asymmetric) state of political tolerance in North Africa's sole democracy.