Assignment 1

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Intercultural Communication and Religious Beliefs

-- A Case Study of the American Film “Innocence of Muslims”

Xiaochi ZHANG

School of Foreign Languages,

China West Normal University,

No.1 Shi Da Lu, Nanchong, 637009,

Sichuan, P. R. China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The world will be harmonious one, the people with different religious beliefs in the world should strengthen

close intercultural communication. And the intercultural communication will avoid any different wrong

recognition about religious beliefs and respect different religious beliefs from different countries and

cultures. Otherwise, it will cause unstable, inharmonious and terrible disaster or incident in the world. Thus,

the authors takes the American film “ Innocence of Muslim” as a study case, briefly introduce the serious

accident result of the film, deeply analyzes that religious beliefs have an important influence on cultural

development and intercultural communication and are one of cultural components. A film is one of major

bridges for intercultural communication. Any film should respect different religious beliefs. However, the

American film” Innocence of Muslims” hurt the Islam people and caused some incredible accident for the

peaceful world. Also, the American film

Keywords: intercultural communication, religious beliefs, American film,

1. INTRODUCTION

As the world has become globalized, the need for intercultural communication has also been increased

to create a conducive, progressive and peaceful world (Akhtar, 2010). Under the influence of globalization,

the intercultural communication and cooperation between countries become more and more frequent. And

the intercultural communication across cultures in which values, beliefs, standards, knowledge, moral, laws,

and behaviors shared by individuals and societies should be taken into fully consideration and plays and

important role in the world communication; trade business and the development of cooperation and

friendship between countries.

At the same time, people should know that religion, which conveys impressive cultural connotation, is

not only a kind of particular belief, but also a kind of universal cultural phenomenon. And then they should

recognize the influence of religious beliefs on different cultures, because it will contribute to intercultural

communication and cooperation around the whole world. Moreover, the religious beliefs will strengthen

mutual understanding and create harmonious world and harmonious human being.

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Now, the author will take the incident caused by the American film “Innocence of Muslims” as a case,

and further study that religious beliefs play an important role in intercultural communication and respect and

tolerance for different religious beliefs will make our intercultural communication more deep and smooth,

and our world more peaceful and harmonious.

2. A CASE

The film, Innocence of Muslims, was made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a “cancer”

and depicts the Prophet Muhammad sleeping with women, the Wall Street journal reported (Al-Majbari,

2012). The film first sparked anti-American protests in Egypt and Libya, and soon spread to more than 20

countries across the Middle East and beyond. Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, was killed

along with three colleagues in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. The violent protests also forced 65

US embassies across the world to issue warnings to Americans to take precautions against violent attacks,

and the Pentagon has sent Marines to protect embassies in Yemen and Sudan. Indeed, the range and violent

intensity of the present anti-American wave is unprecedented (Hua, 2012).

With pretests against the film continuing from London to Lahore on Sunday, Western diplomatic

missions were on edge. Germany followed the US lead and withdrew some staff from its embassy in Sudan,

which was stormed on Friday. The protests peaked on Friday and abated over the weekend. About 350

people chanted slogans outside the US embassy in London on Sunday Sept. 15,2012) A small group of

protesters burned a US flag outside the embassy in the Turkish capital, and in Pakistan there were protests in

a dozen cities ( Agencies, 2012).

Therefore, the controversial caricature was played off of the US – produce amateurish film The

Innocence of Muslims, which has already set off violence in seven countries that has killed at least 28

people, including the US ambassador to Libya ( Agencies, 2012).

Since the 11 th

anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Tuesday, the US-made anti-Islam film has

been fanning the flames of a new wave of anti-US protests in Islamic countries around the world, even

though countries criticized the film and leaders called for restraint ( Zhou, 2012).

As a result, the American film Innocence of Muslims invited the Muslim World against the America and

the West, and then the peaceful world caused the strong conflict and bloody clashes. The incident made the

world unstable and hindered different people with different cultures and different religious beliefs from their

intercultural communication. Hence, it’s necessary for us to analyze the role and influence of the religious

beliefs in intercultural communication and discuss how to enhance intercultural communication competence

for the people from different religious beliefs.

3. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Everyone knows that religious beliefs have many important impact and factors in cultures, even in

intercultural communication. We should know some fundamental knowledge about religions and its origins,

especial some things of Muslim, the relationship between religion and culture and religious beliefs in

intercultural communication. And then we have to analyze religious beliefs’ important impact and factors in

culture and intercultural communication, and further discuss how to respect different religious beliefs in

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different cultures and to deeply strengthen understanding each other, and promote intercultural

communication.

3.1. Religions and Muslim

Religion, human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine. Religion

is commonly regarded as consisting of a person’s relation to God or to gods or spirits. Worship is probably

the most basic element of religion, but moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religious institutions

are generally also constituent elements and worshipers and as commanded by religious sages and scriptures.

(Britannica, 2005)

Now, the world has three great religions including Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. The different

religions have different origins and teachings. Also, the different religions have different group of religious

believer. Here, the author only introduces something about Islam, so that we’ll further study on the case.

Islam is the Muslim religion based on the teachings of Muhammad, which can also be spelt as

Muhammed, Mohammad or Mohammed. This Muslim religion teaches that there is only one God. Allah is

the name of God in Islam. As the founder of the Muslim religion, Muhammad is considered as His Prophet

or the Prophet, who teaches religion and claims to be inspired by Allah. Among Muslims and among Arabs

of all faiths, a Muslim, a Moslem, a Muhammadan or a Mohammedan is a believer of Islam and a follower

of Muhammad. Islam can also be called Islamism, Muhammadanism, Muhammedanism, Mohammadanism

or Mohammedanism. Some people refer to Islam when they are talking about all the countries where Islam

is the main religion. As Muhammad was born in Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia, it has become the holiest

city and the spiritual center of Islam. All Muslims face towards Mecca when they say their daily prayers.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from various countries go to Mecca to pay their tributes to

Muhammad, the founder of Islam. They are pilgrims who make their pilgrimage to Mecca. The sacred book

of the Muslims is the Koran, which is written in Arabic, containing the Prophet Muhammad’s revelations.

They are signs or explanations from Muhammad about God’s nature and purpose. (Wang, 2008)

3.2 Religious beliefs and intercultural communication

Religious belief is the belief in the reality of the mythological, supernatural, or spiritual aspects of a

religion. Religious belief is distinct from religious practice or religious behaviors with some believers not

practicing religion and some practitioners not believing religion. Religious beliefs, being derived from ideas

that are exclusive to religion, often relate to the existence, characteristics and worship of a deity or deities,

divine intervention in the universe and human life, or the deontological explanations for the values and

practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader or group. In contrast to other belief systems,

religious beliefs are usually codified. (Wittgenstein, 2007)

In some content, religious beliefs are such an influential factor in intercultural communication because

they affect our conscious and unconscious minds, as well as the manner in which people communicate. The

religious beliefs of different people originate as they grow up in their cultures. Different religious beliefs

form different views of death in different cultures. Beliefs as one of the hidden aspects of culture, impact on

the culture by influencing other elements inner the hidden aspects of culture, such as, aspirations, laws, and

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symbol, religion itself is a symbol of culture. Each religion has its own characteristic, and these

characteristics act as the symbols in various forms, such as, doctrines, churches, badges, figures, even

speeches, and so on. Beyond this, these symbols of religions also reveal the cultural components of each

group. (Luo, 2012)

3.3 Film and intercultural communication

Film is regarded as culture, and culture is in film. The relationship between film and culture is

interactive. The global influence reflected through film in a country that has become one of the most

powerful cultures in the world. To some extend, film is a bridge in intercultural communication because

different people can admire actors’ performance from different countries, enjoy different music, know

other’s life, understand the different social cultures and issues, or even travel around world and so on.

Thus, film is not only to reflect its own country’s culture, but also to be a good way for the foreign

people to know other culture. In this way, film will benefit the different people from different countries to

understand respective different cultures and tolerant respective different cultures. It’s no double that film

plays an important role and mission in intercultural communication. However, the American

Film” Innocence of Muslims” didn’t play such a role in intercultural communication. The filmmakers have

forgotten one important principle: film is an art, art doesn’t change culture; art merely reflects culture. Films

have the power to impact people.” (Stone, 2012) Especially, the film should respect people with different

religious beliefs and hurt Muslim people, so as to arouse the Muslim people against the West, even not to

make the world harmonious and stable.

4. SUGGESTION

From the above analysis and discussion, we should have known that religious beliefs are a part of

culture, every religion has its own cultural influence and everyone should respect the cultural diversity. The

people with different cultures in the world only understand it and then they may conduct intercultural

communication with other. It’s incredible that every religious belief should be respected. Respect is just

basic. It will build harmonious relationship among peoples with different cultures and religious beliefs.

Therefore, the respect for different religious beliefs is vital to people when they talk with other, work with

other, even live with other in the same world. Now, it’s necessary for us to discuss how to respect different

religious beliefs in intercultural communication.

4.1 Learn some basic knowledge about religious beliefs

Anthropologists Avruch and Black have noted that when paced by an interaction that we do not

understand people tend to interpret the others involved as “abnormal”, “weird”, or “wrong” (Avruch and

Black, 1993) No matter, what your beliefs or religious beliefs, it’s important to learn other people and their

religions and spirituality is a common tie across all of humanity, and we express that sense of wonder and

awe in countless ways. Thus, people should learn some basic knowledge about different religious beliefs in

the world, especially about different world major religions, their belief systems and values. In this way,

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people with different communicative styles reflect deeper philosophies and world views which are the

foundation of their culture.

And then people should know or understand that every religion advises its followers to be good because

people are innately good. In general, people are supposed to live peacefully with others, showing generosity

to those who are less fortunate. Lies, stealing, killing and sexual misconduct should be avoided. If a person

properly followed his /her religion as taught originally, the world would be much more peaceful. It is

ignorance which causes hatred between faiths and study of other faiths helps to understand and respect other

religion. Hence, learning about different ways that people with different cultures and religious beliefs

communicate with can enhance people’s intercultural communication.

4.2 Maintain an attitude of respect

Look for similarities not differences. Set aside the notion that your religion is “right” and other

religions are automatically “wrong” even if it is a tenement of your faith. This means suspending judgment

and being diplomatic to show respect for people of other religions. Treat the people you encounter as you

would want to be treated if someone of another faith was attending a service at your church. ( Hou, 2012)

It is very important for people to keep this in mind when they are in a dialogue or when they are

communicating with others with different religious beliefs. Especially, when they are dealing with any

intercultural conflict, they should be mindful that people may differ in what they feel comfortable revealing,

because the variation among different religions even religious interpretations in respective attitude toward

different religions is also something to consider before they communicate with people from different

religious beliefs.

4.3 Tolerate different religions

Tolerance is a very minimalist attitude whereas respect involves something more active and positive.

Tolerance is a good cornerstone on which to build human relationships. When one views the slaughter and

suffering caused by religious intolerance down all the history of Man and into modern times, one can see

that intolerance is a very non-survival activity.

Religious tolerance does not mean one cannot express his own beliefs. It does mean that seeking to

undermine or attack the religious faith and beliefs of another has always been a short road to trouble.

People with one religious belief should have tolerance awareness of other religions. Awareness of

religious beliefs does not have to divide us from each other. It does not have to paralyze us either, for fear of

not saying that “right thing”. In fact, becoming more aware of religious beliefs’ differences, as well as

exploring their similarities, can help us communicate with each other more effectively. Recognizing where

religious beliefs’ different are in intercultural communication is the first step toward understanding and

respecting each other.

In sum, people should be open to learning some things from different religious beliefs, have an active

attitude toward different religious beliefs and then have tolerance for different religious beliefs. In this way,

the people will really respect different religious beliefs in intercultural communication.

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5. CONCLUSION

An increasing source of conflict in the world today is centered around religious believers’ demands for

respect. Muslims demand “respect” that would forbid criticism, satire, or mocking of their religion,.

Christians demand “respect” that would amount to something very similar. Nonbelievers are caught in a

bind when it’s not clear what “respect” is supposed to entail and how it is supposed to be achieved. If

respect is so important to believers, they need to be clear about what they want. (Cline, 2012)

Therefore, religious beliefs are a part of culture, have an important influence on cultural development

and intercultural communication. However, the American film “innocence of Muslims” did not respect and

the Islam people and caused an incredible serious disaster for the peaceful world. Meanwhile, the American

film also hinder the Muslim believer to communicate with other people with different religious beliefs. The

filmmaker should respect the Islam people and their God. And it is vital for filmmaker or any people to

remember that intercultural communication is not conducted in prejudice, stereotype and ethnocentrism,

especially in respecting religious beliefs, rather it involves too many religious beliefs’ differences or cultural

differences that may leads to misunderstandings. Therefore, people should be aware of the differences, show

understanding and respect to different religious beliefs and most importantly, build bridges across

misunderstanding among different religious beliefs or different cultures.

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