Gallup Poll - Muslims are religious group LEAST likely to support violence

A poll of Muslim Americans.

makes sense, as Muslims have been the subject of military attacks resulting in "collateral damage" for about a decade now.

A poll of Muslim Americans.

Planet_Pluto

That's not just a little detail too...

makes sense, as Muslims have been the subject of military attacks resulting in "collateral damage" for about a decade now.

mrbojangles25

Yeah the 3 Islamic factions in Iraq slaughtering each other for a couple of years were "collateral damage."

Maybe the others are more open minded.
These studies are all silly.

Also on the subject, all major religions, cultures, or any group of people would resort to violence when pushed enough. History has proven that.

A poll of Muslim Americans.

Planet_Pluto

That is true, but polls like this dispell the notion that there's something inherently violent about Islam.

Doesn't matter, it won't stop Islamophobes. Then again, reason and evidence never stop bigotry. Cases in point: racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia.chessmaster1989

That's a pretty quick and rash generalization. I know a lot of people who hate Christianity with a passion and would do anything to see church disbanded in a heartbeat. It works both ways, just one is a much easier topic for the media and whatnot than the other.

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

I'm not trying to poo poo this poll, but it's possible that American Muslims might be more sensititve about this question when they answer it in light of the way alot of ignorant people percieve them.

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

makes sense, as Muslims have been the subject of military attacks resulting in "collateral damage" for about a decade now.

Wasdie

Yeah the 3 Islamic factions in Iraq slaughtering each other for a couple of years were "collateral damage."

I see your point, but that is not relevant to the article, the poll specifically focused on military attacks with the possibility of civilian death.But yeah, the tribal warfare aspect and the misleading title of the thread and article are a bit funky lol

Also on the subject, all major religions, cultures, or any group of people would resort to violence when pushed enough. History has proven that.

Wasdie

Pretty much this; anyone can play nice when needed, but likewise when need, they can turn violent when called upon by the Pope, Llama, Imam, or what have you. Muslims are the violent flavor of the decade at the moment because there has been a widespread call to arms by fundamentalist, but I have no doubt if churches and the pope were to do the same a lot of Christians would get uppity and violent as well.

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]Doesn't matter, it won't stop Islamophobes. Then again, reason and evidence never stop bigotry. Cases in point: racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia.Wasdie

That's a pretty quick generalization. I know a lot of people who hate Christianity with a passion and would do anything to see church disbanded in a heartbeat. It works both ways, just one is a much easier topic for the media and whatnot than the other.

Well, I could certainly add Christianophobes/religionophobes to the list of cases that prove my point. :P

Not sure how exactly what you said runs against what I said though (in reference to the bolded), or how this is a case of "it working both ways"...

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

BMD004

How do those factors make the poll biased?

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

BMD004

Err, not all Muslim Americans are recent immigrants so neither statement is valid... :?

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

GreySeal9

How do those factors make the poll biased?

The poll isn't biased, but it's not a sample of all Muslims which the topic title suggests.

Also we have to remember that the fundamentalist Mulism are not the ones who have migrated to the US like they are in Europe. Instead we have to deal with the fundamentalist Christians. That's why Christianity looks so bad sometimes.

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

Also on the subject, all major religions, cultures, or any group of people would resort to violence when pushed enough. History has proven that.

mrbojangles25

Pretty much this; anyone can play nice when needed, but likewise when need, they can turn violent when called upon by the Pope, Llama, Imam, or what have you. Muslims are the violent flavor of the decade at the moment because there has been a widespread call to arms by fundamentalist, but I have no doubt if churches and the pope were to do the same a lot of Christians would get uppity and violent as well.

A poll of Muslim Americans.

Planet_Pluto

Thought this as well.

Where are Buddhist's?chaoscougar1

Also, doesn't the fact that these are Muslim Americans suggest that the reasons for Muslim terrorism are more closely related to cultural/political values than to religious ones? And yet people will continue to blame Islam. Meh...chessmaster1989

Well Islam is cultural/political. No seperation of church and state and their religous writings detail exactly how to live their lives.

Also, doesn't the fact that these are Muslim Americans suggest that the reasons for Muslim terrorism are more closely related to cultural/political values than to religious ones? chessmaster1989

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]Also, doesn't the fact that these are Muslim Americans suggest that the reasons for Muslim terrorism are more closely related to cultural/political values than to religious ones? And yet people will continue to blame Islam. Meh...Wasdie

Well Islam is cultural/political. No seperation of church and state and their religous writings detail exactly how to live their lives.

I don't blame Christianity or any other religion for acts of extremism by its members. Islam is no different.

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

GreySeal9

How do those factors make the poll biased?

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

How do those factors make the poll biased?

GreySeal9

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

First of all, this a completely biased poll. There are several reasons for this.

1. The are Muslim-Americans. These are Muslims who liked America enough to move there. They aren't the "violent" Muslims that are extreme in their ways.

2. They are Muslims who have seen so much war and blood of innocent civilians. They would be much more sympathetic to the cause than other people.

chessmaster1989

Err, not all Muslim Americans are recent immigrants so neither statement is valid... :?

When Muslims hear about all of the civilians killed in their family's home country, they feel very sympathetic. They would be more likely to feel empathy for those civilians than the average American.

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]Also, doesn't the fact that these are Muslim Americans suggest that the reasons for Muslim terrorism are more closely related to cultural/political values than to religious ones? And yet people will continue to blame Islam. Meh...Wasdie

Well Islam is cultural/political. No seperation of church and state and their religous writings detail exactly how to live their lives.

Almost all religions have traditions of religious writings that dictate in detail how followers are supposed to live their lives.

The extent to which there is a separation between church and state in nations where Muslims live varies from country to country. You're likely refering to countries in the Arab world. There is only one problem with that. The Arab world accounts for roughly 20% of muslims, so its pretty ridiculous to base ANY universal perceptions about the religion on that part of the world alone.

More than 30% of the Muslims in the world live in India, Bangladesh, or Indonesia and all three are secular democracies.

Most have family still living in the Middle East and are "connected" to that part of the world

BMD004

Can you back that statement up?

And this poll is about civilians in general, not specifically related to the Middle East.

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

Most have family still living in the Middle East and are "connected" to that part of the world

chessmaster1989

Can you back that statement up?

And this poll is about civilians in general, not specifically related to the Middle East.

Americans are great people and before we became an isolationist welfare state we were getting many great hard workers from other nations as well.

Isn't this the definition of a biased poll?

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

Most have family still living in the Middle East and are "connected" to that part of the world

BMD004

Can you back that statement up?

And this poll is about civilians in general, not specifically related to the Middle East.

Incorrect. Only 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East, so your conjecture that most Muslim Americans have relatives in the Middle East does not seem reasonable.

By the way, re: black people growing up Muslim, 15% of the world's Muslim population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, and I'm guessing most of them are black.

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

Most have family still living in the Middle East and are "connected" to that part of the world

BMD004

Can you back that statement up?

And this poll is about civilians in general, not specifically related to the Middle East.

Again, most muslims do not live in the middle east and haven't for a long time. The are 160,000,000 in India alone and more than another 140,000,000 in Bangladesh and another 200,000,000 in Indonesia.

The middle east accounts for about 20% of muslims. There are more muslims in Russia than Jordan and Libya combined. There are more muslims in the rest of Europe than in Oman, Palestine, Lebanon, The United Arab Emirates, and Syria combined.

[QUOTE="BMD004"][QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]

Can you back that statement up?

And this poll is about civilians in general, not specifically related to the Middle East.

chessmaster1989

Incorrect. Only 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East, so your conjecture that most Muslim Americans have relatives in the Middle East does not seem reasonable.

By the way, re: black people growing up Muslim, 15% of the world's Muslim population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, and I'm guessing most of them are black.

Plus, a lot of Americans are fed up with the wars in the Middle East, and would be more likely to allow the killing of civilians out of desperation if it would help their cause to end terrorism.

It's more of a political, emotional issue than a religious one.

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]

[QUOTE="BMD004"]It's just common sense. Unless their grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. all moved to the U.S. (which is extremely unlikely), then they still have family in the Middle East. And no, not all Muslims are from the Middle East... but most are. It's not often that a white guy grows up as Muslim. Some black people do, but it is still rare.BMD004

Incorrect. Only 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East, so your conjecture that most Muslim Americans have relatives in the Middle East does not seem reasonable.

By the way, re: black people growing up Muslim, 15% of the world's Muslim population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, and I'm guessing most of them are black.

Plus, a lot of Americans are fed up with the wars in the Middle East, and would be more likely to allow the killing of civilians out of desperation if it would help their cause to end terrorism.

It's more of a political, emotional issue than a religious one.

It's true, you can't compare Muslims in the US to Muslims in the Middle East, but what this poll does suggest that Islam itself isn't actually a violent religion, as many people take Muslim extremism to suggest (not saying that you believe that, of course).

I know you're talking about Americans, but I still don't see support for your claim that the Muslims here are ones who fled from violence in the Middle East/Africa. You've just been claiming that's the case without really supporting it... Though I suppose it's not that relevant a point regardless because my above statement about its implications for the "violence" of Islam still hold.

There are nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world

the terrorist organizations don't even make up 0.001% of that.

[QUOTE="BMD004"]

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]

Incorrect. Only 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East, so your conjecture that most Muslim Americans have relatives in the Middle East does not seem reasonable.

By the way, re: black people growing up Muslim, 15% of the world's Muslim population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, and I'm guessing most of them are black.

chessmaster1989

Plus, a lot of Americans are fed up with the wars in the Middle East, and would be more likely to allow the killing of civilians out of desperation if it would help their cause to end terrorism.

It's more of a political, emotional issue than a religious one.

It's true, you can't compare Muslims in the US to Muslims in the Middle East, but what this poll does suggest that Islam itself isn't actually a violent religion, as many people take Muslim extremism to suggest (not saying that you believe that, of course).

I know you're talking about Americans, but I still don't see support for your claim that the Muslims here are ones who fled from violence in the Middle East/Africa. You've just been claiming that's the case without really supporting it... Though I suppose it's not that relevant a point regardless because my above statement about its implications for the "violence" of Islam still hold.

There are nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world

the terrorist organizations don't even make up 0.001% of that.

Blue-Sky

i clicked around on a few sites and islamcovers between 21-23% of the worlds population.

2billion/.21 = 9.5 billion

2 billion / .23 = 8.7 billion

so according to you there are between 8.7 and 9.5 billion people on this planet.