St. Paul, Minn. — In recent years, many people have been hearing more about Islam because of 9/11 and the war in Iraq. In recent days, it may be because of the controversy over Muslim taxi drivers in the Twin Cities who don't want to carry passengers with alcohol. Sometimes, those stories can reinforce negative and misleading stereotypes...

There are more than a billion Muslims in the world. It's estimated that only about four million of them live in the United States. But many Americans know little about the small minority of people who practice Islam in this country. Much of the discussion last night focused on American ignorance about Islam and how to change it.

Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation said that the media play a large role how Islam is perceived. He's says news organizations must become more responsible.

"I think there is an element of lazy journalism out there. It's just a lot easier to take one extreme side, pit it against the other extreme side and then that's on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand journalism. We lose that vast middle ground," he said...

To listen to the audio and for the full transcript, please visit the Minnesota Public Radio website.