A Pew poll out today shows an interesting trend in the attitudes of American Muslims toward various aspects of American society. The poll is here, the Washington Post has the story, and below are a few highlights:
- 43 percent of American Muslims view US counterterrorism efforts as sincere, up from 26 percent in 2007.
- Since 2007, more American Muslims report that “someone expressed support for you”. At the same time, however, there has been an increase in “people acting suspicious” towards American Muslims, “being called offensive names”, “being singled out by airport security”, “being singled out by other law enforcement officers”, and “being singled out or attacked”.
- Despite that, the clear majority of American Muslims are satisfied with life in the United States: 82 percent are happy with the way things are going in their lives, and 79 percent view their communities as good places to live.
- Similarly, 66 percent believe life in the US is better than life in most Muslim countries.
- 81 percent of Muslims in the US say suicide bombs should never be used to defend Islam from its enemies. This is quite a contrast with the West Bank and Gaza, where only 19 percent of Palestinian Muslims feel that way.
- Importantly, nearly half (48 percent) of American Muslims feel that American Muslim leaders have not done enough to voice opposition to global Islamic extremism.
That a small but not insignificant number of American Muslims have different views makes life complicated for all Americans of whatever religion. The country has real enemies who would like to do us harm, but the overwhelming majority of American Muslims deserve and should have the full respect and friendship of their neighbors — to say nothing of the full and equal protection of the law. It isn’t easy to keep the two objectives in balance, and we will never get it exactly right, but Americans of all faiths and no faith are working hard to get this right and the signs are that we are doing OK — and getting better.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but:
NINETEEN PERCENT OF AMERICAN MUSLIMS CANNOT CATEGORICALLY REJECT SUICIDE BOMBING?
If you meet five Muslims today, then remember that one of them does not necessarily regard strapping a bomb to one’s person and blowing up a bunch of folks on the street to be NECESSARILY verboten. Let us point out that the question in the poll was whether or not suicide bombing against CIVILIANS was always wrong. If we presume that there are 2 mil practicing Muslims in the US, that means there are 400k moral supporters of terrorism in the US. What will it take to make them practical supporters? Hell, what will it take to make nineteen of them practical supporters? Let’s look on the “bright” side: maybe they just want to blow up Jews.
Given these numbers, I think optimism re: American Muslims is goofy in the extreme.
“the clear majority of American Muslims are satisfied with life in the United States: 82 percent are happy with the way things are going in their lives, and 79 percent view their communities as good places to live.”
I learned last year — and not by reading the NYT — that fully 80% of American Muslims are not affiliated with any mosque. In other words they were born Muslim but it does not play an important part in their lives.
They are the silent majority of moderate Muslims we have never heard or read much about in the ten years since 9/11 — and who have been here all along!
Another great unreported story in the mainstream media.
They would rather play up religious fears and suspicions than report the humdrum truth. It’s strictly business I suppose. Controversy sells!
I agree with jh. It is chillling that one fifth of US Muslims will not categorically reject suicide bombing. After all, most are immigrants who presumably have chosen to come to this country for its opportunity, freedom and wealth. The contrast with Palestinians who regard themselves as continuously at war (foolishly) is pointless. It only takes a few thousand among that 20 percent to form and extremely dangerous fifth column.
Hmm. Let’s look at the flip side.
One in five American Muslims *doesn’t* believe “suicide bombs should never be used to defend Islam from its enemies.” One of every five is unhappy with the way his or her life is going and doesn’t view his or her community as a good place to live. One American Muslim in three doesn’t believe life in the US is better than life in most Muslim countries.
That’s a pretty fairly amount of disgruntlement. Good thing (per another item) al Qaeda is on the wane.