The 9-11 Terrorist Attack’s Impact on American Life

 

Introduction
Americans’ relationship with God has regressed most significantly in the area of tolerance to the Islamic faith. Other areas of regression include the attitude towards God as an all-powerful being and the total number of believers. Terrorism contrasted religions, predominantly represented in America – Protestantism, and Catholicism, with Islam and created strong tension. According to Klandermans et al. (2008), although the attack aimed to undermine the political, economic, and social spheres, it acquired a religious background due to the Muslim origin of terrorists (as cited in Yuksek, 2017). The confrontation that arose in the aftermath between the West and the Muslim world correlates with Huntington’s (1993) view of a clash of civilizations (as cited in Yuksek, 2017). The confrontation led to stricter boundaries between the common religions in America and Islam and even to demonizing this religion (Cimino, 2005). As a result, many biases against Islam and a negative image of Muslims arose.


The attack had a short-term and long-term impact on citizens and their appeal to religion. For example, according to Uecker (2008), in the months after the tragedy, the increased number of young people turned to religious practices for comfort. In total, about 90% of Americans turned to faith for spiritual reassurance (Schuster et al., 2001, as cited in Uecker, 2008). As a result, there was a hypothesis that religion will regain its influence and importance for citizens (Uecker, 2008). However, the trend quickly changed, and the expected revival of spirituality and religiosity did not occur.

Among individuals who have lost close people, the influence on religiosity is different. Seirmarco et al. (2012) interviewed more than 800 people who lost a relative, friend, or colleague, and 608 of them provided answers about the importance of their religious beliefs after the attack. While most did not note changes, 11% pointed to the increased influence of religious beliefs, and 10% – to a decrease in their significance (Seirmarco et al., 2012). Regression in the importance of faith correlates with greater severity of the injury – people from the second group survived the direct impact of an attack or loss of a child. Nevertheless, the study also supports the findings that changes in belief are generally modest.

Some surveys show shifts in attitude towards the Lord and his authority. According to Barna Research Group’s (2001) study, there has been a fall in the belief that God is omnipotent and is the ideal Creator from 72% to 68%. Moreover, the view of Satan also changed – 5% more people began to believe that he was a symbol, not a creature (Barna Research Group, 2001). These trends reflect the decline in the number of people viewing the world and good and evil concepts through the prism of faith.