Salam, Vonda.

Thank you for sending such an important and timely question. Also, thank you for your interest to know more about Islam.

A simple and blunt answer to your question is "Yes". There is an assumed cultural gap; and in the coming few lines, I will try to share some of the possible reasons for this wrong assumption, and the importance of bridge-building to overcome this gap of misunderstanding one another.

Here are some of the reasons for this cultural gap:

1- There has been an historical confrontation between the Muslim world and Europeans that Europeans are not willing to overcome.

2- There is a violent history. This includes the Crusades, the Inquisition, colonialism, and more recently, the occupation of Palestine, and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. This creates fear and misunderstanding in the minds of Europeans and Americans, as well as the minds of Muslims.

3- There are some cultural differences between Europe and the Muslim world. The Europeans do not seem to be willing to accept the other as they are, and not as a deformed image of the self. You may remember the famous statement of ex-president of the US, George W. Bush, "If you are not with us, then you are against us."

4- War outside means peace inside. For centuries, European politicians thought always that they needed an outside enemy to keep peace at home. Even when there is no need for an enemy, Euro-Americans would create one to justify their aggression against the other. During the cold war era, "The Red Enemy", referring to the USSR, was good enough enemy.

After its collapse, there was a need to create another enemy and this time there was a need to change both the color and the name of the enemy. It came to be called the "Green Enemy" referring to Islam.

5- The fallacy of the clash of civilization theory. This theory is based on an American culture practice called "the melting pot", the early Europeans used against the Native Americans.

This mentality has proven disastrous when dealing with the Muslim world. Islam, simply, calls for another process, which is cultural diversity. It is called "the salad bar", not "the melting pot".

Muslim history proves that Muslims have almost always welcomed diverse groups to live within their societies. For example, you may note how Muslims and Christian Copts in Egypt have lived together over the past fourteen centuries without necessarily imposing one way of life over the other. People are free to choose their own way of life.

6- Adding to all this, modern day media outlets  seem to act like "ambulance chasers". They always look for what is controversial and not for what is common;  what puts us against one another, and not what unites our efforts to work together for the benefit of all.

7- American media rarely highlights the great achievements of American Muslim engineers, doctors, teachers, and others. But if one Muslim is accused of some shameful acts, almost all outlets will tarnish the image of the entire Muslim community, not only in the US, but all over the world.

Take the example of Timothy McVeigh, the terrorist who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma that hosted a daycare center in 1995. In the media, he was never called a Catholic terrorist, and his faith did not feature. Unfortunately this fair reporting does not apply to Muslims.

So, where should we go from here?

I suggest the following points to overcome the past misrepresentations and build bridges of understanding for the future:

1- Both Muslims and non-Muslims need to have enough courage to overcome past grudges and atrocities, and be willing to engage in a serious critical dialogue that does not ignore the past but focuses on the future.

2- The media on both sides of the world need to pay more attention to cultural misrepresentation, and think of the world not through the paradigm of "us against them", but through the paradigm of one humanity. On the other hand, we need not believe all that we are told by the media.

3- All of us need to accept the fact that we are different, and we will continue to be different, and any form of cultural hegemony of one side over the other needs to be resisted by all.

4- We must seek alternative media outlets. With modern day technology, we all need to question the information we get, and always check and verify what we need to know, especially when it involves other cultures.

5- Finally, we all need to understand that we have different cultures. The real challenge for us is how to celebrate our diversity and create common grounds where all can know one another fairly.

I hope this answers your question. Thank you for asking such an important question. Please do not hesitate to send us any more questions to clarify the Muslim perspectives.

Salam.

Useful links:

The Culture of Denial

Muslims and Fun: Culture or Religion?

Is It Religion or Cultural and Personal Habits?

Distinguishing Culture from Religion Concerning Marriage

Distinguishing Culture from Religion in Ramadan

Cultural Influence on Islamic Credo

Postmodernism and the Other