Poll: Muslims, atheists most likely to reject violence

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By Stephen C. Webster

Tags: barack obama, gallup survey, protestant christiansNew data from polling firm Gallup shows that out of all the religious groups in the U.S., Muslims are most likely to reject violence, followed by the non-religious atheists and agnostics.

Through interviews with 2,482 Americans, Gallup found that 78 percent of Muslims believe violence which kills civilians is never justified, whereas just 38 percent of Protestant Christians and 39 percent of Catholics agreed with that sentiment. Fifty-six percent of atheists answered similarly.

When Gallup put the question a bit more pointedly, asking if it would be justified for "an individual person or a small group of persons to target and kill civilians," the responses were a bit more uniform. Respondents from nearly all groups were widely opposed to such tactics, with Protestants and Catholics at 71 percent against. Muslims still had the highest number opposed, at 89 percent. Seventy-six percent of atheists were also opposed.

The Gallup survey, conducted over the course of a year, was designed to measure religious and non-religious attitudes toward violence 10 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/03/poll-muslims-atheists-most-likely-to-reject-violence/

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Big kick for this one!

[divvy]

2. Looks like the Blood-Thirsty Christian rules

Not too suprised really. They eat Jesus's body and drink his blood. They want your soul. Sounds like the devil to me.

[dmallind]

3. I think the Muslim response may be reflexively defensive

When you belong to a group that has for a decade been portrayed as ready to commit and applaud terrorism, and are asked by an organization that is not Muslim whether it's OK to target civilians, how likely are you to consider all possible options and offer a controversial answer, and how likely to immediately recoil from the implication that negative public opinion about your group has any merit? I don't think Muslims as a group are any more violent or OK with violence than Christians, but I have doubts that they are nigh twice as pacifist too.

[provis99]

9. so the Muslims are lying and the Christians aren't? Ok then.

[dmallind]

12. Not really - the Muslims may, with good reason, be more sensitive to questions about violence though

If the survey were about polygamy I'd expect Mormons to be more defensive. If it were about pedophilia, Catholics instead, and so on.

[napoleon_in_rags]

4. This is a scary poll for so many reasons.

They all come together on the question of killing civilians, but still 29% of Christians and 11% of Muslims support? The crazy part is "are there any members of Al Qaeda in your church/mosque" 40% of Christians say yes??? So 4 in 10 Christians go to their little church on Sunday, smile pretty, while looking sideways at the rest of congregation knowing somebody there is with Al Qaeda???

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dmallind]

7. I'm prety sure that number reflects Christians who believe there are AQ members in US mosques. nt

[napoleon_in_rags]

17. Bad wording then:

Perhaps most tellingly, 92 percent of Muslims surveyed said they did not believe any Muslim in their community had sympathy toward al Qaeda terrorists, but just 56 percent of Protestants and 63 percent of Catholics said the same.

That sentence says that 63 of Catholics said "the same", in reference to "their community". When I hear that 40% of Muslims admit to sniffing "their own armpits" but only 30% of Christians admit to "the same", I assume 30% of Christians are admitting to sniffing their own armpits, not the armpits of the Muslims. This poll is less scary if you are right though.

[rrneck]

6. Industrialized warfare

does it's responsibility dispersion magic. Collateral damage is fine as long as you say you didn't mean to do it.

It's just more civilized to hire out your crimes against humanity.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. .

:kick:

[ZombieHorde]

10. Many DUers believe targeting citizens is OK.

Look at any Japan/nuke thread.

[dmallind]

14. *I* believe targeting civilians CAN be OK

The question in any ethical dilemma is to reduce the harm or maximize the benefit. If killing 50 can save 100, it's a good choice. Whether those 50 wear uniforms or not is irrelevant. Pretty damn rare I'd grant you, but certainly not impossible (say for example 50 civilian workers are demolishing a bridge which is the only escape route for 100 soldiers doomed to die if the bridge is unavailable for escape). If one is unwilling to make the right choice in the 50/100 example, haven't you simply killed the additional 50?

[ZombieHorde]

16. No, targeting civilians is against my ethics.

I don't care about hypothetical scenarios. I care about real life.

[dmallind]

18. You honestly think killing civilians has never saved lives in real life?

[ZombieHorde]

19. I did not say that.

On an issue as important as killing people, I would rather look at real life scenarios than hypothetical scenarios.

I believe history shows targeting civilians causes more death than not targeting civilians. The whole picture needs to be examined, so we see the results of a kill-civilian-mentality.

[undeterred]

11. I guess they didn't poll any Quakers.

[dmallind]

13. They'd be in the 38% I suspect. How many should be included? nt

[undeterred]

20. I guess they'd be considered Protestant but they are explicitly committed to non-violence.

It wouldn't be just a percentage of them, it would be all.

[Mr Dixon]

15. Nice

Well now i'm guessing the GOP will not agree

[saras]

21. Only a third of Democrats are religious bigots, vs half of the Republicans - woo hoo!

"Perhaps most tellingly, 92 percent of Muslims surveyed said they did not believe any Muslim in their community had sympathy toward al Qaeda terrorists, but just 56 percent of Protestants and 63 percent of Catholics said the same."

"A Pew poll found in August of 2010 that just 30 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Muslims. Republicans lead the divide, at 54 percent who hold unfavorable views, compared to 27 percent of Democrats."

[druidity33]

22. Sounds about right. nt.