"one world under Islam."
Posted on 06/22/2006 1:31:50 PM PDT by Alama
After a year marked by riots over cartoon portrayals of Muhammad, a major terrorist attack in London, and continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, most Muslims and Westerners are convinced that relations between them are generally bad these days. Many in the West see Muslims as fanatical, violent, and as lacking tolerance. Meanwhile, Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy - as well as violent and fanatical.
A rare point of agreement between Westerners and Muslims is that both believe that Muslim nations should be more economically prosperous than they are today. But they gauge the problem quite differently. Muslim publics have an aggrieved view of the West - they are much more likely than Americans or Western Europeans to blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity. For their part, Western publics instead point to government corruption, lack of education and Islamic fundamentalism as the biggest obstacles to Muslim prosperity.
Nothing highlights the divide between Muslims and the West more clearly than their responses to the uproar this past winter over cartoon depictions of Muhammad. Most people in Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey blame the controversy on Western nations' disrespect for the Islamic religion. In contrast, majorities of Americans and Western Europeans who have heard of the controversy say Muslims' intolerance to different points of view is more to blame.
The chasm between Muslims and the West is also seen in judgments about how the other civilization treats women. Western publics, by lopsided margins, do not think of Muslims as "respectful of women." But half or more in four of the five Muslim publics surveyed say the same thing about people in the West.
Yet despite the deep attitudinal divide between Western and Muslim publics, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey also finds that the views of each toward the other are far from uniformly negative. For example, even in the wake of the tumultuous events of the past year, solid majorities in France, Great Britain and the U.S. retain overall favorable opinions of Muslims. However, positive opinions of Muslims have declined sharply in Spain over the past year (from 46% to 29%), and more modestly in Great Britain (from 72% to 63%).
For the most part, Muslim publics feel more embittered toward the West and its people than vice versa. Muslim opinions about the West and its people have worsened over the past year and by overwhelming margins, Muslims blame Westerners for the strained relationship between the two sides. But there are some positive indicators as well, including the fact that in most Muslim countries surveyed there has been a decline in support for terrorism.
The survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project was conducted in 13 countries, including the United States, from March 31-May 14, 2006. It includes special oversamples of Muslim minorities living in Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain. In many ways, the views of Europe's Muslims represent a middle ground between the way Western publics and Muslims in the Middle East and Asia view each other.
While Europe's Muslim minorities are about as likely as Muslims elsewhere to see relations between Westerners and Muslims as generally bad, they more often associate positive attributes to Westerners - including tolerance, generosity, and respect for women. And in a number of respects Muslims in Europe are less inclined to see a clash of civilizations than are some of the general publics surveyed in Europe. Notably, they are less likely than non-Muslims in Europe to believe that there is a conflict between modernity and being a devout Muslim.
Solid majorities of the general publics in Germany and Spain say that there is a natural conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society. But most Muslims in both of those countries disagree. And in France, the scene of recent riots in heavily Muslim areas, large percentages of both the general public and the Muslim minority population feel there is no conflict in being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.
The survey shows both hopeful and troubling signs with respect to Muslim support for terrorism and the viability of democracy in Muslim countries. In Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia, there have been substantial declines in the percentages saying suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets can be justified to defend Islam against its enemies. The shift has been especially dramatic in Jordan, likely in response to the devastating terrorist attack in Amman last year; 29% of Jordanians view suicide attacks as often or sometimes justified, down from 57% in May 2005.
Confidence in Osama bin Laden also has fallen in most Muslim countries in recent years. This is especially the case in Jordan, where just 24% express at least some confidence in bin Laden now, compared with 60% a year ago. A sizable number of Pakistanis (38%) continue to say they have at least some confidence in the al Qaeda leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs, but significantly fewer do so now than in May 2005 (51%). However, Nigeria's Muslims represent a conspicuous exception to this trend; 61% of Nigeria's Muslims say they have at least some confidence in bin Laden, up from 44% in 2003.
The belief that terrorism is justifiable in the defense of Islam, while less extensive than in previous surveys, still has a sizable number of adherents. Among Nigeria's Muslim population, for instance, nearly half (46%) feel that suicide bombings can be justified often or sometimes in the defense of Islam. Even among Europe's Muslim minorities, roughly one-in-seven in France, Spain, and Great Britain feel that suicide bombings against civilian targets can at least sometimes be justified to defend Islam against its enemies.
Anti-Jewish sentiment remains overwhelming in predominantly Muslim countries. There also is considerable support for the Hamas Party, which recently was victorious in the Palestinian elections. Majorities in most Muslim countries say that the Hamas Party's victory will be helpful to a fair settlement between Israel and the Palestinians - a view that is roundly rejected by Western publics (see "America's Image Slips, But Allies Share U.S. Concerns over Iran, Hamas," June 13, 2006).
In one of the survey's most striking findings, majorities in Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan say that they do not believe groups of Arabs carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The percentage of Turks expressing disbelief that Arabs carried out the 9/11 attacks has increased from 43% in a 2002 Gallup survey to 59% currently. And this attitude is not limited to Muslims in predominantly Muslim countries - 56% of British Muslims say they do not believe Arabs carried out the terror attacks against the U.S., compared with just 17% who do....
One in seven???
I wonder what the proportion is in North American muslim communities - one in seven?
Maybe only one in eleven. Maybe only one in fifteen.
Isn't that nice!
Anyone who doesn't see Islam as being all of these is either a Muslim or a Democrat.
Tolerance is a Western ideal, and the Islamists hate Western ideals.
This radicalized minority within Islam doesn't seek multiculturalism.
Their goal is monoculturalism: one world under radical Islam.
They are not at war for tolerance, but at war with tolerance.
Oh, right, we send hundreds of billions of dollars over to some of these people for their oil and they are poor. How stupid is that? Figure it out, Muzzles! Someone is robbing you blind and it isn't us.
Bottom line: muslims, as everyone else, are judged by how they act. Both towards each other and towards non-muslims. Their record is appaling.
***Many in the West see Muslims as fanatical, violent, and as lacking tolerance. **8
Gee I wonder why?
Should Muslim countries be more prosperous than they are today? ---If their leaders stopped trying to make war and spent the oil riches on its population , they would be richer than Midas. I guess they are too stupid to rrealise that. same goes for Venezuela.
(in most Muslim countries surveyed there has been a decline in support for terrorism.)
I thought the War on Terror was creating more terrorists...
You can thank our own anti-American leftist, Bush-hating conspiracy theorists for this one.
More westerners reading the Koran, I see.
This should read "one world under Islam." Period.
When you nationalize the resources, who gets the mansion?
I see that four out of five Muslim publics prefers Bill Clinton's dictionary to Noah Webster's version.
"one world under Islam."
Did I say anything about nationalising resources?. What I said was share the money from the resources with the people of the country. You dont have to nationalise to do that.
Perhaps I should have used different terminology. I wasn't disagreeing with you. Unfortunately, when the state says it will share profits with its citizens, it rarely works out. And someone still gets the mansion while someone else still lives in a shack.
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=253
Of interest is that while Pew included the US in all other questions, "we" are conspicuously absent from the following:
"SUPPORT FOR SUICIDE BOMBING."
Violcence against civilian targets in order to defend Islam can be justified
Ofent/Rarely Sometimes Never
While Pew sampled French, Spanish, British and German muslims, there is no figures for "US muslims."
Either Pew could not find and "US muslims" (ESTIMATED NUMBER OF US MUSLIMS IS BETWEEN 5 - 8,000,000) or they intentionally did not want to include us or our views.
Wonder why? Maybe we might just get a little exercised over results? Or perhaps they don't want us to know just how many muzzies are here that as soon slit our throat (or would support such actions) as look at us Infidels?
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