Muslims And Islam: Key Findings In The US And Around The World

Modern forms of communication tend to portray Islam as a violent, misogynistic religion. This portrayal does not fairly represent all of the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. When the media talks about Islam it tends to identify all members of the Muslim community with Muslim extremists groups like Isis, and the terrorist attacks they commit. Although Muslim extremists do exist, their actions and beliefs do not accurately define what Islam is truly about. Less than one percent of the Muslim community are part of radical Islamist groups, but in westernized countries, we tend to see this less than one percent as a one hundred percent, due to the near constant exposure to biased media information and its portrayal of Islam. The common link which causes many people to group all Muslims with Radical Islamists is Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the foundation to Islamic tradition, it has elements composed of the Quran and the

Americans rated Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and other religions more favorably than Muslims who had an “average rating of 48 degrees” (Lipka). Americans still have negative feelings towards Islam and this is mostly due to the portrayal of the stereotypical Arab Muslim terrorist we see in movies, on the internet, and television. The media amplifies this stereotype and creates biased opinions of Islam without consideration to the Muslim community. The association that Muslims have with violence discourages people from wanting to learn more about Islam and truly understand Islamic history and culture. Educating people about Islamic traditions and practices can mitigate this awful stereotyping of the Muslim