Cultural Conflict

Cultural Conflict

Cynthia Hogue-Phillips

University of the Rockies

Introduction

A major cultural conflict that is happening in the world today is the controversy between the Muslims and Christians. It is evident that there is more to the problem than just religion, however, religion has been the major focus. An end result has caused the United States to enter into war with several nations that are predominantly Muslim because of a radical sect of Muslims. The facts prove that the conflict is not with Muslims in general, but a small sect of Muslims identified as Al Qaeda.

Cultural Worldviews

Al Qaeda, which means military base, is an Islamic militant group formed between 1988-89. They are a radical group of Sunni Muslims that are stateless and multinational. Their goals are to strive for what they consider morally and spiritually correct. Anyone outside their scope of beliefs is considered infidels and they have waged war on those they believe do not acknowledge their God: Allah (Al Qaeda, 2011).

They inherited the name Al Qaeda after the attack on the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001 and were originally led by Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi. He has never been bought up on charges against the United States. The reigns were passed over to Osama Bin Laden whose status is emis: a high noble.

This militant group of Muslims has several factions that claim to be a part of Al Qaeda, however, they seem to work separately from one another. Their commonality is spreading terrorism even among their own people, other Muslims.

Issues Connected to Conflict

The travesty that happened on September 11, 2001 when United States were under attack by this factious group of individuals claiming to be Muslim, left a bad feeling within the American culture for all Muslims. Americans began to see all Muslims, particularly those Muslims from the Arabian countries and any groups that resembled them, as the enemy.

Many Americans were confused as to how something like this could happen to such a powerful nation as the United States. They became angry and began to retaliate. The retaliation was both external, with the president of this country taking action against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and it was internal as well with actions against American Muslims by American Christians. Many people living here in America, who had a similar look of the terrorists, were attacked and some were even killed. Fear had became out of control.

Cultural Obstacles Contribution to Conflict

The next ten years after the attack on these soils, Americans have been on "alert" for any type of disaster the enemy. Sadly, because of fear, there continue to be hate crimes targeting Muslims and persons who looked Arabian (Livengood and Stodolska, 2004). Hate crimes increased dramatically from 28 crimes in 2000 to 481crimes in 2001. Many Americans believe that all Muslims and Arabs are terrorists.

Cultural attitudes toward American Muslims have had such a negative affect on this group and many are discriminated against only because they resemble those who participated in the attacks against this country. Many members