Based on this article Updike is fool.
OTOH I heard an interview on NPR and he sounded rather on the offense against islam. For ex. in response to a Muslim who called in saying that Updike has completely misunderstood the violence prone Islamic world, Updike asked her to name any Muslim nation in the world living in peace. Silence. Further he said that the Koran was replete with violence and brutality of the worst kind. He had harsh words to say about "imams" who preyed on disillusioned young males especially...the kind that end up commiting suicide or committing terror.
He was quite firm that islam is a flawed violence-filled dangerous utopian ideology.
He was rather unapologetic that Amerca's obsession with materialism was turning off many young people...leading to a nihilistic outlook on life. Kind of like a Solzhenitsyn-lite take on the west.