Religion in Today's Climate

Religion in Today’s Climate Religion, racial profiling, bias and stereotyping are contentious topics that are often discussed together especially in today’s climate of terrorism and widespread fear. Certain religions are regarded with hostility and its adherents are discriminated against and sometimes even excluded from participating in public activities together with the rest of the population.

Racial profiling, bias and stereotyping in the context of religion refers to the discrimination of certain races based on the characteristics that they are assumed to possess. A significant example of racial profiling is the suspicion that Arabs and South Asians are involved in terror activities since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th 2001. Since then, the Islam religion has continuously been linked to condoning and even perpetuating criminal activity around the world. Sikhs, who are a different religion from Muslims, were not exempted from the racial and religious discrimination. Their synagogues and places of worship were vandalized after 9/11 (Macey & Carling, 2011).

The immigration of people from different countries to other parts of the world has contributed significantly to global religious diversity. In the wake of a world where people are diverse in culture, religion and race, the beliefs and activities of minority groups have long been faced with suspicion and sometimes outright bigotry by the majority groups.

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Media may play two roles in religion and discrimination. In some cases, it is educative and challenges the wrong beliefs people hold about certain religions. For instance, after 9/11, various media outlets advised against the hateful treatment of Muslims, Sikhs and Indians because the terrorists were individuals and not the religious group itself (Macey & Carling, 2011). However, in other cases, media may used wrongly to propagate hateful sentiments about people’s religious beliefs and practices. In this case, the media should be monitored and such messages censured.

References Macey, M., & Carling, A. (2011). Ethnic, racial and religious inequalities. Palgrave MacMillan.