Question for Muslim DUers

My girlfriend is the daughter of a Muslim man of Syrian descent and a Catholic woman (she doesn't have a religion although she likes Islam more than Christianity). According to her, her dad was a devout Muslim, but he never impossed his religion on his kids, and was open enough to encourage them to go to any place they could worship God, because "God is in all worship houses".

She has been telling me about the Arab community in Argentina (her country) and she tells me how those who decide to embrace Islam (men or women) normally marry outside their religion- one of her aunts (a Muslim) married a Jewish man, and many of her friends who have embraced the Islamic faith date outside the religion frequently and she says it's not a big deal for anyone over there.

So, my question for Muslim DUers is: Is my girlfriend's life experience common among American Muslims?

His mother is Catholic and his father is Muslim -- lovely, enlightened people, the whole family. They originally came from South Africa to Australia in the 1970s. My daughter would probably be considered agnostic, although there was some church-going in her childhood. So far they're getting along great (the wedding was in November) and they're talking about babies now. :) I don't think religion will be a huge issue. We're all super-tolerant.

Her father sounds like a wonderful man.

How I wish they were more like him.

or have equal rigor in applying the tenets of the faith. Some Muslims are liberal, others are fundamental. There's a big difference between your average American Muslim lad or lass, and those poor folk in Afghanistan with their Islamic facial hair and the women in the beekeeper outfits. But even at that, there can be wide areas of difference, too, in America--some communities are conservative, others liberal, some hyper-observant, others less so.

The religion isn't like Catholicism. There's no "pope." There's no "central church." It's like politics--very LOCAL. And in the local application, you find the differences.

In Argentina, you're seriously limiting your opportunities if you stick to just the Muslim pickings in the dating and marriage market--that's probably what drives that train.