2026-09-21T09:04:14Zhttps://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/server/oai/request

oai:null:10339/392792026-09-02T11:30:40Zcom_10339_14934col_10339_38132

Smith, Christopher Cameron 2014-07-10T08:35:33Z 2018-10-31 2014 https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/39279 This thesis argues that Christian dispensationalist theology has played a major role in promoting and sustaining the anti-Islam discourse, often referred to as Islamophobia, in the media and among the mainstream American populace. Islamophobia is best understood as an othering discourse which creates a stark "us/them" dichotomy in which Muslims represent "them." Othering is also a major component of Christian dispensationalism since it too produces an extreme dualistic worldview. Dispensationalists typically read current geo-political events into the Bible aiming to identify a group of people or region from which the Antichrist and his allies will emerge, thus providing the primary "other." The attacks of 9/11 have served as a catalyst in shifting the focus from the Soviet Union and communism to Islam and the Middle East. Since 9/11, dispensationalists have established themselves as credible "experts" and "insiders" in the media and have subsequently been instrumental in promoting anti-Islam ideology. This study examines the ways in which this has been accomplished. en Wake Forest University anti-Islam Christian fundamentalism dispensationalism Islamophobia mass media othering discourse Dispensationalism, Islamophobia, and the Mass Media in America Thesis van Doorn-Harder, Nelly Foskett, Mary F Leonard, Bill J Religion open.access