Source: MSNBC / Newsweek

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9024951/site/newsweek/

On August 29, 2005 Newsweek reported, "Children of immigrants are the fastest-growing group among the nation's estimated 7 million Muslims, and they're changing the face of Islam in this country by combining their faith with the American tradition of diversity. In Orange County, youth-group members [at the Mission Viejo Masjid] have similar stories: their strong ties with Islam really started in college, when they bonded with a mixed group of Muslims. This scenario was unthinkable even 15 years ago for immigrants who stuck with their own for support and for African-American Muslims who were still working through the racial exclusivity of the Nation of Islam. Those divisions mean little to the twentysomethings in Orange County. 'It's all about Muslim identity now,' says Haider Javed, 25, the center's youth coordinator. He wears jeans and a skullcap and seems to know everyone in the giant building. 'You're searching for yourself,' Javed says... During a discussion between prayers, Javed's peers agree that stripping away cultural baggage from their parents' home countries (such as customs limiting women's rights and racial dictates) is the only way to practice a purer Islam."