Interfaith Communal Distrust since the War on Terror:A UK perspective

This research seeks to locate the existence of interfaith distrust between the Muslim and Christian communities in the UK since the 9/11 terrorist attack in America and 7/7 London bombing in the UK. Firstly, this research study begins with reviewing a range of post-9/11 and post-7/7 international political debates and their impact which has yielded a multitude of components of communal distrust, such as fear, shock, insecurity and threats. Secondly, this study explores the trust and its elements from theoretical perspectives. Thirdly, the study addresses the policy approaches where it finds the comparative interfaith relations between Muslims and Christians from the socio-political milieu. It also investigates the concept of multiculturalism and the idea of Islamophobia and their impact on the post-9/11 and post-7/7 interfaith trust between the Muslim and Christian communities in the UK. Finally, a case study on post-9/11 and post-7/7 communal distrust between the Muslim and Christian communities of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets enables an understanding of the factors of interfaith distrust and opens a critical space for its future scholastic contestation.