The London Central Mosque, near Regent\u2019s Park \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
People in the West who strongly oppose and condemn Islam don\u2019t do so merely for political reasons. \u00a0Some anti-theists and militant secularists use Islam as a particularly egregious example of the evils posed by religion in general<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Are they justified in doing so? \u00a0The evidence suggests that they are not.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are a few more passages that I\u2019ve drawn from John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed,\u00a0Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Gallup Press, 2007):<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, those who say that 9\/11 was unjustified support this response by citing religious principles (\u201cIt is against God\u2019s law,\u201d \u201cGod hates murder,\u201d or \u201cIt is against Islam\u201d) as well as humanitarian ones (the loss of life was tragic, and so forth), while those who say that 9\/11 was justified cite political grievances<\/em> to support their response, not religious justifications. \u00a0(161)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Esposito and Mogahed base their book upon an enormous global Gallup poll, which they describe in considerable detail. \u00a0So their conclusions are founded on a remarkably solid, broad, and methodologically sound base.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Gallup\u2019s research, what researchers didn\u2019t<\/em> find became as important as what they did find. \u00a0For example:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Gallup found no significant difference between women and men in support for religious law.<\/span><\/li>\n
- There is no significant difference in the level of personal piety between the majority who condemn terrorism and the fringe minority who condone it.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Those who condone terrorism admire Western freedom and liberty as much as the moderate majority. \u00a0((182)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They . . . used sophisticated techniques to determine key drivers for such things as extremist views. \u00a0Was it poverty? \u00a0Illiteracy? \u00a0Hopelessness? \u00a0Religious fanaticism? \u00a0The answer was no on all counts. \u00a0(183)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
[T]hey asked residents of predominantly Muslim countries about the moral justifiability of attacks on civilians, and they posed the same question to a representative sample of Americans. \u00a0What did they find? \u00a0Levels of support for this common definition of terrorism were no higher in Muslim lands than they were among the general American population, and with few exceptions, did not exceed percentages in the single digits. \u00a0(183)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diagnosing terrorism as a symptom and Islam as the problem, though popular in some circles, is flawed and has serious risks with dangerous repercussions. \u00a0It confirms radical beliefs and fears, alienates the moderate Muslim majority, and reinforces a belief that the war against global terrorism is really a war against Islam. \u00a0Whether one is radical or moderate, this negative attitude is a widespread perception. \u00a0(164-165)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 People in the West who strongly oppose and condemn Islam don\u2019t do so merely for political reasons. \u00a0Some anti-theists and militant secularists use Islam as a particularly egregious example of the evils posed by religion in general. \u00a0 Are they justified in doing so? \u00a0The evidence suggests that they are not. \u00a0 Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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