One in four young American Muslims supports suicide bombing, at least in some circumstances, a new survey by the Pew Research Center has concluded.
It's a shockingly high number. Among U.S. Muslims as a whole the support for suicide bombing is 13 percent. Among younger Muslims it climbs to 25 percent. I found it equally telling that 80 percent of Muslims oppose the U.S. war on terror. I don't give much intellectual weight to this, because approximately half of those people don't think Arab men carried out the 9/11 attacks! Still, a not-insignificant segment of American Muslims seems to think they should have. Houston, we have a problem.
What the survey confirms is that Islamic radicalism is not confined to the Muslim world and Europe. We have it here too, in America. But let's keep a couple of things in mind. First, there are traditional Muslims all over the world who condemn 9/11 and the Bali bombing and the London bombing, but who will nevertheless defend suicide bombings in Palestine and Chechnia and Kashmir. They distinguish "terrorism" from what they call "wars of national liberation." So while we may disagree with them about Hamas and Hezbollah, it doesn't follow that these Muslims support suicide attacks in the United States.
Second, the vast majority of Muslims rejects suicide attacks in all circumstances. We should not alienate these people by condemning Islam as the source of terrorism. We should be careful before we portray the prophet Muhammad as the patron saint of the suicide bombers. We should think twice before we point to the Koran as a gospel of violence. Rather than push traditional Muslims into the radical camp, why not work to form alliances with them, both in the United States and abroad, against the radicals? Such an effort may fail, but has it actually been tried?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Yes, that's right. Rather than standing by as young Muslims drift toward extremism, we should try to strengthen the core of a peaceful Islam, and bring the young back to the center. Maybe an eductional program should be developed here to do that.
michael white at 1:49PM on May 22nd 2007
2. As a college professor of Philosophy & Religion, I often wonder where the more moderate voices of Islam are hiding and why they do not more publicly defend the Quran. I have read the Quran during Ramadan for the past fifteen years and I find nothing to support the hatred, the violence, the murderous attitude of terror we face today. I can defend the Quran but it means nothing unless the more moderate voice of Islam is also heard. Where are those voices?
Jamnes Colvert PhD at 3:49PM on May 22nd 2007
3. I think we should beware and forwarned of any muslim in this country. They hide behind their religion to cover their deeds, they aren't building all those mosques just to pray, they cover a lot.
jane at 4:48PM on May 22nd 2007
4. Dr. Colvert (post #2): Yours is a good point, and D'Souza answers the very question you pose in his new book "Enemy at Home".
As a Roman Catholic, after pope Benedict’s visit to Turkey last year, it started to become clear to most Catholics that we need to be more open minded about, and more considerate and respectful of traditional Muslims. For my part, by traditional Mulsims, I mean reasonable; quite separate from radical or fundamentalist Muslims.
During his trip, of course Pope Benedict made it very clear we Roman Catholics need to find a way to reunite with Greek Catholics, but he also made a point of showing all Catholics how important it is to be welcoming and respectful of traditional Muslim people of faith. Regarding the pope’s theme on the balance between faith and reason, course our news media put great focus on, and emphasized his inference that radical Muslims should use more reason, however they Totally ignored his equally and perhaps more important point that the West is far too materialistic & secular, and is in dire need of more faith. I guess this is typical, since our media seems quite secularist, and generally anti-Catholic.
While of course we do not agree on everything theologically, from a social and cultural standpoint, Catholics and other Christians do have things in common with reasonable Muslims. We both believe in one almighty God. Culturally, we both abhor abortion and euthanasia, we both love and cherish our families, we both value modesty in manner and dress, and neither of us likes to have our women or children scandalized by debauchery, decadence, or low morals.
My point is that it is important for the average Muslim to understand that slowly, little by little, Roman Catholics at least, are coming to understand what pope Benedict said, and that while we cannot of course abide radical fundamentalism (we Catholics do not agree with Christian fundamentalism either), we are coming to understand that Roman Catholics will not be the enemy of traditional (reasonable) Muslims.
However, in order to help traditional (i.e., reasonable), peace-loving Muslims stand up to radicals and beside us in this conflict, we need to give them reason to believe we are not the Godless hedonists that radical Muslims say we are.
Now, I voted for Bush both times, and while I think he is an honest man and do not regret voting for him, I think he is wrong about this war. I wish he had heeded the pope’s advice before taking us into Iraq (the pope urged we not go to war) but in any case, once he decided to go to war, I think he was wrong in how he chose to go about it. We Americans will not go for a hundred-years war; this has in my opinion dragged out long enough.
I prefer Pope Benedict’s approach of trying to engage reasonable Muslims and if possible, find some way to steer clear of violence. I think we need to be very firm and probably need to use a lot of violence against militant radical Muslim terrorists, but I do not think the whole of Iraq or the rest of the Muslim world is composed of such radicals.
Ultimately we need regular, garden variety, “reasonable” Muslims, both those at home and abroad, on our side. However as long as even traditional (i.e. reasonable) Muslims honestly think we are a godless people with a vulgar, repugnant society who truly want to undermine their culture and values, and disgrace their women children with our decadent ways, it is doubtful many of them will come to our defense and risk getting on board with our plans to help build a democratic society in Iraq.
I mean; we can build as many schools and hospitals as we like, and we can even get the water & electric running, but as long as regular (i.e. traditional, but non-radical) Muslims honestly believe we are part of a very powerful but Godless society that they both fear and loathe, we will not win.
I have read where even radical Muslims are not so much against democracy (witness the elections in Palestine, where the radical Hamas group actually won the election), as they are appalled at what they think we Amercians have decided to do with our freedoms. Don’t misunderstand me; bin Laden is not a democrat. However it seems that, the way they see it anyway, rather than use our freedoms to advance things civilized, Godly, and modest, the image we put out to the world is that we have chosen the way of abortion, gay marriage, free love, drugs, and a host of other decadent things that have lead to a society plagued with violence, mental and physical illness, a high divorce rate, a real drug problem, troubled, scandalized, or very cynical children, and the like.
In his book, one of the points D'Souza argues is that while of course we need to fight radical Muslims terrorists (and we need to be serious about them, by the way), we also should take a look at ourselves.
As for Roman Catholics, slowly we will begin to engage traditional Muslims as per the pope's example, but as a society in general, it seems that at the very least we American should examine the image we put out to the rest of the world.
Ken Berg at 5:10PM on May 22nd 2007
5. Here's another good question: Do Christians support 'decapitation' strikes? 'Shock and Awe' bombardments? Should those Christians in support of such actions be considered 'radical'? Or maybe just 'ultra-orthodox'?
vegastracon at 5:55PM on May 22nd 2007
6.
Israel Israel Israel Israel Israel.
9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy, according to half of those people. I know you and radical Islam share a common distaste for "moral indecency" but the root of this matter is not us or our culture war, it has been and will continue to be Israel. Israel is the rallying cry of the radical Muslim world, and support for the Palestinian's and Palestinian terrorism to drive Israel out has been the single uniting factor throughout the whole of the middle east for years.
Peter at 6:37PM on May 22nd 2007
7. It is always simple to blame Jews. On the other hand, I am sure you are correct that our support of Israel is part of the problem radical Muslims have with us society.
Still, Israel has been around since the late 1940's, but this (recent) particular brand of wild-eyed Islam seems to have really taken off in earnest during the 80's, shortly after Iran adopted it's fundamentalist theocracy. The debut of these radicals was the large part they played in the Russian-Afghan war of that era.
Certainly these radicals don't like Jews. Indeed several radical Muslim groups over the years have directly targeted Israel; the war back in the late 60's, Munich Olypics, and other tragedies too numerous to list here.
However It seems that since the 1990's, the Islamo-fascists' main target has been the West at large, with Israel being only one part of that which makes them rave.
Ken Berg at 7:18PM on May 22nd 2007
8.
It's a very convenient argument to make that liberal values are to blame for all of this, when the fundamentalist Christians trying to make this connection find our behavior equally as immoral as fundamentalist Islam. The argument being that we should promote a more fundamentalist Christian stance in our culture and less of a liberal-secular one.
He's entirely wrong on this, but let's assume for a moment he is correct and liberalism trumps foreign policy or economic growth in this. Why should we do that? Because radical Islam uses violence? That sounds like a surrender in the face of intimidation to me, which Dinesh is more than willing to accept because it is his enemies, the liberals, who would have the most to lose. He is basically using terrorism as an excuse for clamping down on liberal values, and in that way he is supporting the terrorist agenda.
Peter at 8:11PM on May 22nd 2007
9. DD,
"... because approximately half of those people don't think Arab men carried out the 9/11 attacks!"
Geez! Half?! That's almost as high as the ratio of Republicans who think Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11! I never would have guessed that American Muslims are almost as confused about 9/11 as Bush-supporters. Truly, you are a beacon in the dark, politically. http://www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1169
You forgot to add that you should find some way to ally with traditional Muslims against the perverts and secularists like me who like to watch girls make out. Remember, fearing Muslim extremists is important, but I, like all libertarians am really scary. Sure, I won't blow anybody up and I want to install the FAIR TAX, but I'm much worse than religious extremists because I watch porn!
lil_turk at 11:04PM on May 22nd 2007
10. Dinesh,
During the Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. presidential compaigns, I was watching a cable program discussing African American voters. The panalist agreed, to some extent, that current leaders in this community were getting old and tired and change would be good.
They said the same about Islam. They claimed there was "rumbling" amoung younger Muslims about wanting to live a more western life style. The Mullahs, they claimed, wouldn't like this fearing a decrease in power.
So, I agree with the thought of reaching out to younger Muslims. I think there are changes going on in the Muslim world that the Old Guard does not like.
But change is inevitable, and I believe it's time for the Old Guard in many communities to saddle-up and ride off into the sun set.
Willet at 8:49AM on May 23rd 2007
11. ALLAH – A PERFECT GOD – A GOD OF REASON
The Pew Poll released today states that because 80% of Muslims oppose suicide bombings that this is somehow a good thing. The fact that 80% of Muslims do not support suicide bombings is nothing to take comfort in. The 20% figure supporting these killers means that potentially over 300 million Muslims support these brutal acts of murder.
What we need to do is change Islam. This can be done by exposing the irrational teachings of the Islamic Fundamentalists. You must start with the following declaration:
ALLAH AS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE - THE CREATOR OF ALL LIVING THINGS IS PERFECT.
ALLAH AS A PERFECT GOD - IS A GOD OF REASON
AS A PERFECT GOD - A GOD OF REASON - ALLAH IS ALL PEACE AND LOVE
ALL MANKIND ARE THE CHILDREN OF ALLAH
ALL CHILDREN OF ALLAH ARE CREATED EQUAL AND THEIR LIVES ARE SACRED TO ALLAH
ALLAH IS NOT AN IRRATIONAL BEING. IF ALLAH IS IRRATIONAL THEN ALLAH IS NOT PERFECT AND THEREFORE SINCE ALLAH CANNOT BE IMPERFECT AN IRRATIONAL ALLAH IS NOT GOD
The above lays the intellectual framework for an Islamic Reformation.
All teachings in the Koran and all Islamic texts (written or verbal ) that are not the teachings of ALLAH - A GOD OF REASON are the teachings of man. This means that all teachings recorded in the Koran of murder, killing, violence, hate, suicide bombers, violent jihad, torture, maiming, inferiority of woman, women as instruments of sexual pleasure in paradise, honor killings, child sex, bigotry, inequality of infidels, that infidels can be murdered as a holy duty etc are irrational AND NOT THE TEACHINGS OF ALLAH – A GOD OF REASON – A GOD OF ALL LOVE AND PEACE.
All Imams/ Fundamentalists who quote these phrases from the Koran are blaspheming against Allah.
Osma bin laden and all other terrorists who issue Fatwas calling for death and destruction are blaspheming Allah - A PERFECT GOD - A GOD OF REASON.
By teaching young Muslims that ALLAH IS A GOD OF REASON - and that all teachings of Jihad, killing of infidels etc are sins against ALLAH - A PERFECT GOD - A GOD OF LOVE AND PEACE you will occupy the moral and intellectual unassailable high ground.
This is the only way to rescue Islam from these brutal killers
Any Muslim who refuses to accept that Allah is a PERFECT GOD – A GOD OF REASON – and refuses to follow the teachings of Allah – A GOD OF REASON are no longer Muslims. This means that the 20% who support suicide bombers - if they continue to support this evil - are not Muslims - they are blaspheming against the very essence of ALLAH – A GOD OF PEACE AND LOVE – A GOD OF REASON. All teachings in the Koran that are not of ALLAH - A GOD OF REASON - blaspheme ALLAH and are evil. In this way you can start to drive a stake through the heart of the evil irrational Islamic teachings.
Sincerely,
Larry Houle
www.godofreason.com
Larry Houle at 9:48AM on May 23rd 2007
12. Please, please, let us NEVER forget that everything these terrorists do is OUR fault. WE need to be more open-minded (they, however, must never be made to feel that tolerance should be practiced on their end). WE must not only understand, but use as an excuse for acts of barbarism and evil, the fact that they have had much harder lives than any other person on the face of the earth - ever. (I mean, c'mon! Those starving kids in Africa whose parents are falling like flies to AIDS, never had to share food shopping with an ISRAELI!! Eeek!)
We used to be a country of majority rule. Now, we are a country of jumping to the snaps of any disgruntled minority - citizens or not.
But, that's the way it should be because, IT'S ALL OUR FAULT.
(How do I know it's all our fault? CNN, MSNBC, Nancy Pelosi, and Hollywood told me so. And, no one is better versed on the subject than that lot).
Mara at 12:54PM on May 23rd 2007
13. As a moderate Muslim, I do not support violence in any way, shape or form. I've spent time in the middle east, in the UK, and now in the US. I speak for all those who I know, that we do not support violence. We moderates are out and voicing our opinions, however these opinions are not news-worthy, they do not sell papers - hence they go unnoticed. I urge all who have open minds to survey other new media out there to get a holistic view of the landscape before jumping to conclusions.
Alex Christy at 11:37AM on May 30th 2007