America’s Mosque: The Islamic Center of Washington, Protestant Inclusivism, and the Cold War Genesis of “Multireligious America”

Abstract

This article examines the contested nature of American efforts to expand America’s twentieth century notion of tri-faith idealism—the unity of the three monotheistic faiths of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism—to include Muslims both at home and abroad. It does so through a contextual, historical study of the construction and dedication of the Islamic Center of Washington. The construction of the Islamic Center ultimately proved a lightning rod that electrified competing wings of Protestant Christian nationalism within in the United States—namely “inclusivist ecumenists” and “exclusivist populists.”

Keywords

• tri-faith idealism
• religious pluralism
• Cold War
• American Protestantism
• American Islam
• Eisenhower administration