Michael Walzer, from Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, explains why cultural pluralism and the congregational model have helped integration and accommodation of religious differences in the USA. Italian or Irish Christians, Jews or Black Baptists are those who have built institutions, hospitals and who join in culture. Professor Walzer explains that according to sociologists “that process has begun with American Islam. That is the ‘protestantization’ of the mosque, or the turning of the mosque into an American congregation, with the men’s club, the ladies auxiliary and all the paraphernalia of an American protestant congregation. That hasn’t happened in Europe. The congregational model – even if each one has his own adaptation of that model – has been enormously helpful in the accommodation of religious difference in the United States and I think that is perhaps the biggest reason why Islam in America is very different from Islam in Europe.” Watch Part 1 of this video