Islam on the Rise

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. However, it is also still hated and

misunderstood by many, due to the radical or extremist perception the media portrays. Since 9/11,

the media has been covering many stories about attacks, bombing, killing, etc that have Muslim

involvement. The media shows a lot more negativity from one group, rather than the positivity. It

is the general publics interaction with the media, and not actual Muslims, that gives them their

image or impression of what Islam is about and who Muslims are.

Islam is perceived by many to be a religion full of terrorists, due to the outbreak of attacks

and killing done by ISIS, and other extremist groups. All the negativity shown in the media is what

Americans see, and because of this false information, Americans develop a sense of fear or hatred

towards Muslims. Bridge Georgetown is a community organization that writes Muslim-Christian

understandings and settlements. One of their articles states, According to data Media Tenor

collected on religious protagonists in 2013 news stories, Christianity, Judaism and other

religions receive considerably positive coverage in American news, while Islam receives virtually

none. While mainstream religious leaders like Pope Francis were often the face of Catholicism in

the media, fringe extremists like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became the face of Islam. Pope Francis

is well known, respected, and is positively portrayed in most media. The Dalai Lama, a religious

leader in Buddhism, is also well known, respected, and portrayed well in the media. Yet, when

Islam is shown in the media it is often associated with something nonpositive. The face of Islam

is now well known through extremist like Abu Bakr or Osama Bin Laden. Even if Islam is a

growing religion, it will still have a good number of people who are very ignorant about it.
 An news article published by The Daily Beast, talks about other religious terrorist groups,

such as the Buddhist terrorists who had killed many Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka, yet it is not

heard a lot about. People are more likely to be killed for other reasons, such as accidental death or

injuries caused by children, then by Muslim terrorists. The last several years, there have been many

terrorist attacks in the West. To many, they automatically think that it was the Muslims that did it,

the extremists. Yet they do not know that many of the terrorist attacks were not linked to Muslims.

Muslims are perceived as terrorist without valid reasonings and actual understanding behind the

religion. An FBI report shows that there was only a small percentage of terrorist attacks on U.S.

soil between 1980 and 2005 that were perpetrated by Muslims. Forty-two percent of terrorist

attacks are done by Latinos and only 6 percent by Muslims. Most terrorist attacks shown by the

media are by Muslims, but not about other religious groups. Most people do not know this because

of the media, most terrorist attacks that happen in the U.S are not even done by Muslims. This

comes to show how Islam is misunderstood by the people, majority of those in the west.

Islam is a fast growing religion, the numbers of new converts contribute to its growing

pace, but not entirely. The Pew research center discussed about the growth of the religion Islam

and what it is projected to be by 2050. The main reasons for Islams growth ultimately involve

simple demographics. To begin with, Muslims have more children than members of the seven

major religious groups analyzed in the study. The children in Muslim households are increasing

in numbers compared to other households of other religions. Because Islam is not a religion that

typically seeks converts, there will still be a misunderstanding or fear that links to Islam and

Muslims. There will be more numbers of Muslim in the coming years, due to estimated population

growth, and as of today, there are about 1.6 billion Muslims, which makes up about 23% of the

worlds population.
 Although hatred towards Islam may seem important to Muslims. It should be in fact

concern anyone who cares about rights and the freedom of religion everyone that everyone

deserves. It is not just about the religion and Muslims, it is how people treat Muslims because of

their religion yet still believing in freedom of religion. Its important for a better understanding of

this religion and the people and not just the stereotypes in society.