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On 12/14/09 14:06, Darren New wrote:
>>> It would be interesting to see how big a subset it really is. That
>>> argument goes out the door when it's actually a majority of muslims that
>>> feel that way.
>>
>> Let's get precise. What is "that way"?
>
> Well, in this case, it would be either that violence is an appropriate
> response to criticism of your religion, or that Sharia should replace
> democracy as a governmental form in their current democratic country of
> residence.
While many like Sharia, they don't view it in the absolutes that you
do. The majority seem to say that they want both democracy and Sharia:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/104731/muslims-want-democracy-theocracy.aspx
Here's a Gallup poll (perhaps the same one):
http://www.gallup.com/poll/28678/framing-war-terror.aspx
Essentially, they found little links between the level of religiosity
and the support for violence, and those who were against violence were
against it for religious reasons, while those who were in favor of it
quoted nonreligious reasons. Interestingly enough, the politically
radicalized minority favored "democratic values" like freedom of the
press more than their moderate counterparts did.
(So, religious moderates are more likely to promote violence than the
strongly religious? I guess we need to define these terms).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/radicalisation-european-muslims
Quotes another Gallup poll of Muslims in France and Germany - the vast
majority of which stated they were against violence against civilians
(aside: It scares me that I have to point stuff like this out...). More
importantly, """responses were not determined by religious practice -
with no difference between devout worshippers and those for whom
"religion [was] not important"."""
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8038398.stm
Here, while democracy is not mentioned explicitly, it shows that in
some European countries, a greater percentage of the Muslim population
identified with that country than did the general population. For example:
"""German Muslims were also found far more likely than the general
public to have confidence in the judicial system, financial institutions
and the honesty of elections."""
Although in this case it was 40% of Muslims, so who knows - perhaps the
other 60% wants to overthrow the government and have Sharia. I'd like to
see a study showing that, before I believe it.
Here's a Pew Poll:
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=253
See the chart about what percentage of Muslims (including in some
European countries) think about democracy.
Now I don't particularly doubt that you could look and find opposing
data if you focus on a certain geographic region. Ever watch the Hans
Rosling TED talks? Everyone should. The point he makes in each one is
that it's stupid to talk of Africans and Africa, because there's so much
diversity that just about any statement one makes is going to be wrong
for a big bunch - and often for the majority.
The sentiment and arguments are not unique to Africans, obviously, but
for any large group - and the number of Muslims exceeds the number of
Africans, as do their geographic spread.
Getting back to the main topic, as I said in another post, the really
valid question that needs answering is about the behavior of the Muslims
in Switzerland. That they may do funny things in, say, Malmo is irrelevant.
--
If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
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