During the last 20 years, attitudes towards Islam and Muslim communities across the United Kingdom have shifted significantly. At the same time, deeply alarming long-term trends in public opinion have taken root. Recent polls only confirm the worrisome increase in the normalization of Islamophobia. Close to one in two Canadians agree that Muslim women are forced to wear the hijab. We believe this unfortunate advance speaks to a larger societal problem which has been fueled by negative political discourse and media representations of Muslims.
In 2011, former chair of the Conservative party Sayeeda Warsi warned about the growing acceptability of Islamophobia within British culture. Speaking during a recent conference, Rep. Rashida Tlaib decried the normalization of anti-Muslim sentiment. Her statement seems more and more prescient as the tide of public opinion continues to change and grow. Yet in a 2019 poll, nearly half—41%—of British respondents thought that Muslim immigrants were making their country worse. This new discovery underscores the growing chasm in American attitudes.
The idea of the hijab has been hotly contested since at least the early to mid-2000s. Even community surveys now ask the question about the hijab. This new approach is intended to help us get a better picture of how the public feels. Nearly 49% of respondents now believe that Muslim women are coerced into wearing the garment, raising questions about agency and cultural representation. Countless Americans conflate Islam with violence, thanks to an all-too-common narrative. Indeed, in a follow-up poll, nearly a third of respondents agreed that Islam promotes violent extremism.
The origins of these feelings run deep, thanks to years of fiery demonstrations and inflammatory political rhetoric. When he was running for the Conservative Party Leadership in 2018, Boris Johnson earned a great deal of criticism for his burqa comments, which many described as racist. These kinds of statements add to a toxic space where poisonous images of the other side breed, shaping public perception and ultimately public policy.
The French government has already stepped in to stop such practices by prohibiting the wearing of full-face veils in public spaces. This action is part of a larger trend globally to police public expressions of Islamic identity. This continuing national discussion about religious garb challenges our notions of liberty, cultural expression, and the kind of country we want to be.
A 2015 report by US think tank Center for American Progress, called “Fear, Inc 2.0,” uncovers the shocking reality. It sheds light on the coordinated and well-funded networks that work around the clock to promote anti-Muslim narratives. What their resulting findings reveal is how well these entities have coordinated to boost one another’s messages. This has produced a climate where Islamophobic rhetoric can swiftly take root. Zoe Williams, in her reflections on societal attitudes, noted that Muslim lives are often viewed as less valuable than those of non-Muslims, indicating a troubling devaluation of human life based on religious identity.
Data from the last few years continues to support this troubling trend. A 2016 national survey found as much anti-Muslim sentiment as we see now. The UK has experienced a significant shift over the past 25 years. Initial concerns focused primarily on “Muslim extremists” now extend to encompass all Muslims, revealing an alarming generalization that fuels further discrimination.
Comparative data on attitudes toward each of the aforementioned groups relative to one another provides a snapshot of an underlying societal bias. Just 7% of Americans said they held a negative view of Christians, but 13% had an unfavorable opinion of Jews. Just 14% of Americans expressed unfavorable opinions toward Sikhs, and 15% toward Hindus. This further illustrates how prejudice in society continues to have a disproportionate and harmful impact on our Muslim brothers and sisters.