Religious Intolerance: Exploring Muslim America, Post-9/11 - Assignment Example

September 11, 2001 was the day when many things in the world changed forever and with that change our perception about the religion and religious tolerance also changed too. What happened subsequently will find its due place in history however, the way the very fabric of American society changed is considered as completely different in many ways. Just after 9/11, there were wars in Afghanistan and Iraq regarding the potential threat Islamic Jihadists may pose to US security at the national as well as international level.

After 9/11 there were racist attacks against Muslims out of the rage which Americans carried as a result of the events and catastrophic losses suffered by the American nation. The loss of a few thousand innocent lives was something which radically changed the way Americans think about Muslims and their religion.In order to argue whether there is really a clash of civilization as suggested by Huntington or the reaction is just Muslim or Arab Phobia, it is important to understand the roots of this conflict and how this difference emerged.

The theory of clash of civilization is basically based upon the notion of clash of cultures and civilizations with each other. Underlying this theory is the belief that future conflicts between people will be based upon culture of people and that democracy or free markets is not the only ideology of the world. This notion therefore suggests that the primary axis of conflict will be religion as well as the culture of the people.Considering this position, the post 9/11 scenario may not seem as a clash of civilizations but rather Muslim or Arab phobia.

The obvious reasons for the attack of 9/11 were based upon the belief that US has supported or illegally occupied and plundered the resources belonging to the Muslim world. This conflict was however by few groups against the State rather than a Muslim State against America. The videos suggested that there is a general Arab and Muslim Phobia because in the War against terror many Muslim countries actually supported the US in its war against Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. In a way, the Muslim world on the whole, except for a few countries, was officially supporting the US and its war against Islamic extremist groups.

There is therefore a general fear regarding Muslims and how may they create a threat for Americans within America. People generally believe that Muslims may harm them and therefore in order to avoid being harmed, Muslims should be labeled and wear bands so that they can be identified. There is a growing perception that Muslims in general may engage into such terrorist acts again and can commit mass murder. The current arrogance against Muslims and Arabs therefore is part of that perception that Arabs and Muslims are violent in nature and can be harmful.

Further, it also seems to be a new way of finding popular support for votes by the politicians to paint a racist picture so that sentiments of masses can be utilized to gain political support and win elections at State and National Level.