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Matthews
Dr. Dana Gregory Griffith
Religion 3010
17 March 2016
Fighting Intolerance in Local America
On the surface, The United States of America might appear to be one of the most
religiously tolerant countries in the entire world. The first amendment of the US Constitution
states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof. Such an idea that was revolutionary and unheard of at the time the
amendment was passed. Additionally, modern US Census Data shows that nearly all of the
worlds major religions are represented in the US population in statistically significant
proportions. Furthermore, instances of outright violence and discrimination against varying
religious groups are few and far between. However, a closer look reveals cracks in this tolerant
foundation; in the everyday life of the modern American, underlying prejudices and
misrepresentations concerning religions, specifically Islam, abound. One need not look further
than the heartland state of Ohio itself to see the ways in which religious intolerance manifests
itself and injures the members of this particular religion.
In the past decade, local Cincinnati Muslim residents have found that they have become
the target of intolerance simply because they either practice the Islamic faith or because they
appear to be Islamic. Take, for example, Haneen Jasim, a Muslim-American University of
Cincinnati student who was crossing the street one evening when a driver swerved at her, nearly
hitting her, while cursing and yelling terrorist (Fighting Intolerance). Such an action,
although rare, is an exceptionally striking example of religious-based intolerance for two
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reasons: the first reason is that the act of intentionally coming close to hitting a pedestrian with a
moving vehicle is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible because of the potential injuries that
could result. The second reason is that the driver of the vehicle committed this act simply
because of the way Jasim looked. According to the article Fighting Intolerance, woman who
wear hijabs, like Jasim are already easily identifiable and face more risks of being targeted.
Presumably, the driver of the vehicle, recognizing Jasims clothes as a perceived symbol of
Islam, felt enough intolerance toward the Islamic faith to have the motivation to threaten the life
of a fellow human being.
Another instance of religiously-motivated intolerance occurred in the Cincinnati area to
an Islamic woman who was out for a shopping trip. The article Fighting Intolerance details that
the woman reported that an older couple yelled insults at her as she checked out and then
followed her to her car and pulled on her headscarf to get her attention. Although this particular
example is not as news-worthy as Jasims brush with death, it is nonetheless a very real and
pertinent example of religious intolerance. The couple who approached this woman felt the
motivation and need to approach her and single her out of the crowd due to her religion, openly
criticize her, and physically violate her in order to achieve their goal.
Such examples of religiously-motivated intolerance are not limited to the Cincinnati area;
a web search on the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) turns up numerous potential
instances of intolerance in the Midwestern community. In Columbus, Ohio, a woman was exiting
her car outside of an Islamic center when a man approached her and yelled anti-Islamic slurs.
According to the woman, he said he will kill me and he said All you Muslims, go back to
wherever you're from. Don't think you can rule this country. You can't (Video: FBI
Investigating Alleged Hate Crime Outside Mosque). The article also states that the man pepper
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sprayed the woman at close range after uttering the hateful remarks. This incidents was clearly
religiously-motivated in nature because of the attackers statement that Muslims should go back
to their country. The words and actions show that the man had a very large motivation to
discriminate against the woman and become intolerant towards her based only upon her religious
appearance and destination. The preceding examples of religious intolerance towards Muslims
are just some of the numerous others that occur every week in the US; however, these particular
instances are the most local and striking in scope.
In analyzing these actions of religious intolerance against the Muslim community, it is
important to not only consider what sort of actions have been taken against Muslims, but also the
underlying reasons for the intolerant actions. There are a large number of reasons that a nonMuslim may find the motivation to lash out at a Muslim-American; however, these reasons
generally boil down to two major categories: the first being poor media portrayal of the Islamic
community and the second being misinformation spread through online and textual sources.
The mainstream American media is a powerful force in the lives of
many. Websites such as CNN, Fox, and CBS provide readers with a vast
wealth of information in quantities that only 10 years ago would have been
unheard of. However, more news does not necessarily translate to wellresearched or quality news. In an effort to boost ratings, many news
organizations will run the most inflammatory headlines possible in order to
create higher traffic with little regard to the possible consequences of the
information being spread. According to Gallup.com, this efficient system
of media coverage brings Muslim-American terrorism suspects to national
attention, creating the impressionperhaps unintentionallythat Muslim-
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American terrorism is more prevalent than it really is (Islamophobia). A
quick glance of the main web page of any major news organization will show
the presence of an article describing the horrific acts of ISIS militants or
foiled terrorist plots on US soil. However, Research shows that the U.S.
identified more than 160 Muslim-American terrorist suspects and
perpetrators in the decade since 9/11, just a [small] percentage of the
thousands of acts of violence that occur in the United States each year
(Islamophobia). Due to the large quantity of news portraying Islam in a
negative light, it would be easy to simply assume that the religion of Islam is
a large, if not the largest, force of evil in todays modern world. For example,
the headline of an article on Foxnews.com reads State Dept. to miss
deadline for ISIS 'genocide' declaration. Although not expressly anti-Muslim
in nature, the headlines use of ISIS and genocide in the same sentence
brings about a connotation between the two. As a whole, the mass media
plays a very important role in the creation of and continuation of negative
stereotypes of the Islamic community in America.
Despite the medias influence, there is another major factor that can
motivate people to become intolerant of others based on religion, and that
factor is simple misinformation. Although the media can certainly be accused
of over-reporting negative news stories with Muslims as major characters, in
general, the media does not spread gross misinformation in an attempt to
mislead the public. Accidents happen, though, and such was the case with
the proposed Ground Zero Mosque. According to the Ontario Consultants
for Religious Tolerance, Local and national groups fought the construction of
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a Muslim community center some six blocks from ground zero in New York
City. One ironic factor in this fight was that the sponsoring organization for
the center is a Sufi group (2001 to Now:). The Sufis, a sect of Islam that
focuses on asceticism and mysticism, have practically nothing to do with the
terrorists groups that organized 9/11; however, many news outlets
interpreted the proposed community center as a memorial of sorts for the
attacks and the center quickly became a national issue, despite the fact that
the proposed location was not even visible from the location of the twin
towers and that the developers wanted to create an interfaith dialogue
through the use of the center. Misinformation about the religion of Islam can
also arise from misrepresenting the religion by picking and choosing parts of
the Koran to paint Islam in a very negative way. For instance, in a letter to
the editor of the Cleveland Herald, an anonymous writer picks out passages
from the Koran such as Kill the idolators, wherever you shall find them
strike off their heads The sword is the key of Heaven and Hell: a drop of
blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than
two months of fasting and prayer (Corrigan and Neal 10). The writer of the
letter goes on to compare multiple violent passages of the Koran to passages
of the Bible that display the kindness of Christianity. Such misrepresentations
are dangerous because they fail to take into account the entire picture; that
Islam is a religion of peace, not war, and that the average Muslim desires
peace, no matter where he or she lives.
Determining the true cause of the religious nature of an intolerant
action is always incredibly difficult. In the case of Haneen Jasim, the mindset
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of her potential attacker is impossible to know with absolute certainty.
Perhaps the driver of the car was angry after reading a poorly researched
website article or social media post about Islam, or maybe he or she felt that
because of their portrayal in the news, Muslims were truly a threat to him or
her. Or, the driver may not even believe those things; maybe he or she was
having an awful day and was just looking for someone to blame, and Haneen
happened to be the closest. Whatever the case may be, an important lesson
is to be learned: with the proper education and knowledge, religious
intolerance can be eradicated, but only if a whole community can work
toward that end together and with the participation of all its members.
Works Cited
"The Bill of Rights: A Transcription." National Archives and Records Administration. National
Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
Corrigan, John and Lynn S. Neal. Narratives about Religious Freedom and Religious
Intolerance. Introduction. Religious Intolerance in America: A Documentary History.
Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010. 1-16. Print.
"Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West." Gallup. Gallup, Inc., n.d.
Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
Krebs, Natalie. "Fighting Intolerance." CityBeat. Southcomm, 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
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Robinson, B. A. "2001 to Now: Recent Hate Crimes against Muslims in the U.S." Religious
Tolerance. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 27 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2016
"Video: FBI Investigating Alleged Hate Crime Outside Mosque." Cair. Council on AmericanIslamic Relations, 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.