Although progress has been made—particularly in multinational workforces—around religious diversity, struggles remain. With Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr just completing in the United States, now might be a good time to explore the Muslim-Christian divide around the world. It represents one of the toughest diversity issues to address, for a handful of reasons.
For one, religious conflict is not always straightforward. For example, when a country bans burka wearing, is that rooted in religion? Or is it a gender issue? A pure and simple dress code issue? Or perhaps even a security concern? It is sometimes too convenient to classify these disputes into seemingly harmless categories.
Often religious problems are rooted in historical, even traditional conflicts between two peoples. Again, this muddies the waters.
Muslims represent roughly one in four people on the globe. In some Asian countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia) Muslims dominate the population. In many other Asian countries, as well as European and North American countries, they are a minority. This sets the stage for regional and country-specific clashes that become more political than religious.
Given economic status, the clashes also can be about haves and have-nots. Consider that, of the 40 Muslim-majority nations worldwide, only two outside of the Persian Gulf (Turkey and Malaysia) have GDPs above the global median GDP. As India, China, and Latin America grow explosively, Muslim populations are further marginalized, both within rapidly growing countries and within competing Muslim-majority nations.
But on the eve of 9/11’s ten-year anniversary, a sliver of good news: Pew reports a thaw in attitudes toward Muslims in the United States and Europe over the past five years. Muslims, unfortunately, have not experienced the same thaw in their own attitudes toward the West.
Herein lies the most interesting rub of all, perhaps the crux of the issue: Both sides believe they hold the moral high ground, and blame the other side for poor relations. Age-old beliefs dealing differently with critical debates around life and death drive apart Muslims and the somewhat Christian, somewhat non-secular West.
Cultural competency and inclusion meet their fiercest challenge here. Can we set aside our fundamental life-and-death beliefs and embrace different beliefs in another human being?
