Anti-Islam Movie: Christian-Muslim Relations in Southern California Under Scrutiny

Although normally associated with a region of the U.S. where many religions and beliefs harmoniously coexist, Southern California has come under the microscope of late as the result of an anti-Islam movie with production roots in Los Angeles. The movie "Innocence of Muslims," which many are calling amateurish, is reported to be the focal point of the recent violence and protests in the Middle East.

In previous years, if any conflict between Christians and Muslims existed it was hard to detect. New mosques in the So Cal's rural eastern valleys and urban centers sprung up with little or no obstruction in an area also known as California's Bible belt region (counties east of Los Angeles and Orange County).

However, tensions have been "percolating" between the region's Muslim communities and some local evangelical Christians in the last few years, according to a story published recently in The Wall Street Journal. The reporter for the WSJ called the Muslim antagonizers "right-wing evangelical groups."

Although the WSJ article pointed to an association between the anti-Muslim sentiment and a "small, vocal anti-Islam movement in Southern California that incorporates evangelical Christians, a small number of Copts, or Egyptian Christians, and a few other Arab Christians," it is unclear as to the magnitude of the problem. Read more