Posted on 10/06/2004 10:32:47 AM PDT by Area Freeper
An Islamic civil rights group says crimes against Muslims and negative beliefs about Muslims have increased in the United States since 2001. But the U.S.-based organization also says that a recent poll it commissioned finds that a vast majority of Americans have neutral thoughts about Muslims. Allah. Islam. Mohammed. A poll commissioned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations indicates these are among the first thoughts that come to Americans' minds when they hear the word "Muslim."
In the survey of one thousand Americans conducted in June, two out of three Americans thought of a similarly neutral image when they heard the word Muslim. While the vast majority, 67 percent, thought of neutral terms, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is concerned that 32 percent thought of a negative term such as war or violence. And only two percent thought of a positive term such as good, beautiful or decent.
The founder of the research firm that conducted the poll, Jeni Sall of Genesis Research Associates, says the very first thing people think of when they hear a word indicates their attitude.
"Generally, it's considered that what you have at the top of your mind, what you will say on an open-ended basis, is the most predictive of the way that you think, so if I say, 'What comes to mind when I say the word Muslim?' and you say 'war,' you probably don't have warm, fuzzy feelings about Islam," Ms. Sall said.
One in four Americans surveyed agreed with the statements that Muslims teach their children to hate or they value life less than other people.
The council's research director, Mohamed Nimer, says this finding is troubling for the more than six million Muslims living in the United States.
"It's very uncomfortable to live thinking that it is likely that one in four of the neighbors around you think you are less human than they are," Mr. Nimer said.
But the poll also found that twice as many people, about half those polled, think of Muslims as family-oriented, honest, hospitable, or generous people who have contributed to society.
Ms. Sall explains even more Americans believe Islam is a peaceful religion.
"When we asked people whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement that the people who are using Islam to justify violence are misusing the teachings, we found that 44 percent agreed strongly with that statement, and in fact most Americans did agree at least to some degree with that statement," Ms. Sall said.
The survey finds that people who know Muslims or are knowledgeable about Islam are less likely to have negative perceptions of the faith.
The council is trying to educate more people about Islam by encouraging 100 mosques to share a meal with members of other faiths during Ramadan, the Islamic fast that begins in mid-October. It is also asking people to donate books about Islam to public libraries.
They didn't ask me.
I guess I'm not in the vast majority, then.
I doubt if the majority is within it either.
90% of Americans immediately think of a United 767 flying into a building. Many are just too polite to say so.
The view out of my office window used to be the World Trade Center.
My view of Muslims is something other than neutral.
I have a neutral view towards Islam... HOWEVER, Moderate Islam better get a hold of its radical elements VERY QUICKLY, or my view will go from neutral to negative....
VOA, you're naive. Try asking non-Arabs.
My thinking was they asked the same group of people who say they never masturbate.
I wasn't asked either. I'm proud to say that I run a Muslim-free household.
Ever notice that they never cite the number of "crimes" against Muslims? The reason is simple: the grand total is 47.
While one attack on someone solely because of their race, sex or creed is definitely wrong, that number of crimes against Islamists pales in comparison to the number of anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims against Jews.
Not that I expect such facts to come to the fore at the hands of Islamists or their sympathizers in the media.
The intended audience of this article is Mooselimbs in foreign countries.
As far as most Americans being neutral on Muslims, even if everybody hated them, so what? We were very anti-Japan, anti-German and anti-Russian in our past....that was then at that time. Today they are our allies and from what I can see there is no residue of our former feelings toward them.
Most Americans didn't read the Koran. Otherwise they would share my views on Mohammedanism.
I want to have a favorable view of muslims, but every time I look, it seems that they are beheading someone, using suicide bombers to kill large numbers of people, vowing to acquire nuclear weapons, engaging in such things as gang rape, honor killings and preaching hate from the mosques.
I have unadulterated hatred for Islam & a sense of sympathy to those many innocents who somehow were born into that cult!!
All this says to me is that, as usual, most Americans have their heads planted squarely up their oh-so-PC butts.
The only good muslim is a dead muslim.
Period.
Islam: a lethal combination of dorks and butchers.
I think the headline is pretty much correct, but one more attack on the US........
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