A quarter-century after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, new research suggests that while religious bias in America has not disappeared, the forces driving it have evolved. Rice University researchers, who have studied attitudes toward Muslims and religious discrimination over more than two decades, found that while support for restrictive policies targeting Muslims has declined, attitudes have become more divided along political, religious, and demographic lines. More recent findings from Rice’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance highlight how international conflicts can intensify religious tensions in the U.S., especially when they align with existing societal divisions. Kerby Goff, associate director of research at the Boniuk Institute and a sociology professor, explained that people often respond to perceived external threats by forming a unified defensive stance. However, this unity tends to fade over time. In the decades following 9/11, attitudes toward Muslims in the U.S. became more influenced by internal factors such as political beliefs, religious identity, and demographic characteristics rather than by the initial external threat. To understand this shift, researchers from the Boniuk Institute compared surveys from 2002 and 2019. In 2002, 38% of Americans supported making it harder for Muslims to settle in the U.S. By 2019, that number had dropped to 17%. However, the study also found that differences in attitudes based on political affiliation, religion, and age had grown more pronounced. Political affiliation, in particular, became a major factor in shaping views on policies toward Muslims by 2019. The institute’s more recent research shows that these issues remain relevant even 25 years after 9/11. A 2024 survey by the Boniuk Institute looked at religious bias and hostility following the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. Nearly a quarter of Jewish respondents (23%) and 16% of Muslim respondents reported experiencing an increase in religious bias or hostility since October 2023. Both groups also expressed significant concern about facing such bias or hostility in the future. Goff emphasized how international conflicts can impact religious communities in the U.S., particularly when they intersect with existing divisions. He noted that the Israel-Palestine conflict is especially significant because it touches on Christian, Jewish, and Muslim identities in the U.S. and political debates about international alliances. Since both Muslims and Jews are large religious minority groups in the U.S., global conflicts can bring these internal tensions to the surface, leading to bias, hostility, and fear of future discrimination. Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of the Boniuk Institute, highlighted a broader question raised by the research: how religious differences and a sense of belonging in America interact. She said that inclusion and religious diversity do not have to conflict with national identity, but when they do, it can lead to discrimination or justify it. Beyond studying the causes of religious discrimination, the Boniuk Institute also explores how people with different religious identities can build trust and work together. Through the Houston Religious Leadership Project, researchers have interviewed religious and community leaders in the Houston area to better understand how to foster interfaith collaboration. Goff noted that shared challenges can bring diverse communities together. When religiously diverse groups recognize they must work together on issues like poverty, health, or political polarization, they can build bridges across differences. He added that the same sense of solidarity that can exclude people during times of perceived threat can also promote unity when challenges are seen as shared by all, regardless of religious or other differences. Ecklund pointed to Houston as an example of how differences can be bridged during crises, such as natural disasters, when people from different religious backgrounds come together to help one another. Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, the research offers a broader lesson: religious difference itself does not have to lead to division. How people understand these differences, who they consider part of their community, and whether they view challenges as shared can shape whether moments of uncertainty deepen divisions or create opportunities for cooperation.