Americans consider religious freedom a cornerstone of society, but fall short in their tolerance of Muslims, according to a poll released Tuesday (Sept. 6) that probes Americans’ attitudes toward immigrants and the nation’s safety 10 years after 9/11.
The “What It Means to Be American” poll found that a small majority (53 percent) say the country is safer now than before the 9/11 attacks. Attitudes toward Muslims, however, are far less straightforward.
More than 8 in 10 Americans say that self-proclaimed Christians who commit violence in the name of Christianity are not really Christians. By contrast, less than half (48 percent) say that self-proclaimed Muslims who commit acts of violence in the name of Islam are not really Muslims.
And in your typical muslim country, say, Indonesia: how many citizens of that country have a favorable opinion of Christians? You could probably be killed conducting such a poll. I think America stands out very well considering the number of radical islamic attacks against the citizens of this country.
I don’t know about Indonesia, #1, but closer to home (USA) in France Moslems are fast displacing Christians:
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/islam-cristianesimo-christianity-cristianismo-francia-france-7523/
It seems there are (at least) two distinct approaches in media to considering this topic. One is to develop polls and claim statistical significance for them, to try to influence the opinions of those who read them, and the other would be to present evidence in a situation and let readers judge for themselves what that situation is really like and where it might lead.
All mainstream Christians of most denominations accept that a
divide exists between the realms of Caesar (political and
administrative needs of the state) and Christ (the belief and
practice of religion). Christ himself pointed out that the civil and
religious aspects of a nation’s life have a legitimate existence.
I think most Jewish religious groups in the U.S. are also heavily
invested in the division of civil and religious realms.
However, I do not believe a similar outlook applies to Islam,
which everywhere it is predominant tends to lack, and often
violently opposes, a rigid division between the civil and the
religious aspects. Indeed, they tend to use their civil powers in a
coercive manner to convert religious minorities. Furthermore, most
non-Arab Muslim majority countries seem to be mere shills whose
task is to promulgate a religious/cultural Arabic hegemony across
the world.