Gallup poll: A lot of good news and some bad news as well

Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Uncategorized.

The Gallup World Poll continually surveys citizens in more than 140 countries which (they claim) represents 95% of the world’s adult population. A new report has been released:Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think This book is the product of the Gallup World Poll’s multiyear research study. Gallup posed questions that are on the minds of millions: Is Islam to blame for terrorism? Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists? Where are the moderates? What do Muslim women really want?

On the Immanent Frame we can read a piece by John Esposito, one of the writers of the report. They do not only give a nice impression of the most important conclusions, but also of the research method and criteria and definitions they used:

How widespread is political radicalism?

The key question asked to demarcate moderates from the politically radicalized was whether the 9/11 attacks were completely justified and whether they have an unfavorable or favorable view of the United States. The vast majority, moderates, said the 9/11 attacks were unjustified. A significant minority, politically radicalized and thus potential supporters of extremism – 7% – said the attacks were completely justified and view the United States unfavorably. Identification as “politically radicalized” does not mean they commit acts of violence but that they are a potential source for recruitment or support for terrorist groups.

Defying the conventional wisdom, the politically radicalized are no more religious than moderates and on average more educated and affluent than moderates. Larger percentages of politically radicalized than moderates respond that they are more satisfied with their financial situation, standard of living, and quality of life, with 64% of the politically radicalized vs. 55 % of moderates believing their standard of living is getting better. They are also, on average, more optimistic about their personal future than moderates, more optimistic about their own lives. However, the politically radicalized are more concerned and pessimistic about world affairs and international politics regarding issues like U.S. hegemony, invasion, and dependency. Responding to an open-ended question, politically radicalized frequently cite “occupation/U.S. domination” as their biggest fear, while moderates most often mention economic problems.

[…]

The good news is that 9 out of 10 Muslims are moderates, another piece of good news for those optimistic about coexistence. However, if the 7 percent (91 million) of 1.3 billion Muslims today worldwide are politically radicalized and they continue to feel politically dominated, occupied and disrespected, the West’s opportunity to address these drivers of extremism will be as great as the challenge of succeeding.

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The Other Malaysia – The Fear of Holy Books by Farish Noor

Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Uncategorized.

The Other Malaysia – The Fear of Holy Books
Written by Farish A. Noor

Not too long ago, a certain Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Dutch Freedom party, caused a stir in that rather flat country by suggesting that the Quran should be banned on the grounds that it was a ?dangerous book? that spread the message of hate and violence. As the rather pointless and tiresome debate took its course, other right-wing politicians chipped in, suggesting things such as new laws that forbade the reading of the Quran in public, limiting the sale and dissemination of the Quran in Dutch society, controlling the number of Qurans being brought into the country, etc. Needless to say, Geert Wilders got what he wanted, which was to project himself yet again on the national stage as a rather loud and outlandish advocate of far-right causes.

[…]
Yet the question remains: If Muslims can get so worked up by the fact that some right-wing Dutch politician hungering for publicity can stir up a debate by demeaning the Quran, why is it that so many Muslims remain indifferent to how their fellow Muslims treat the holy texts of other faiths and belief-systems?

[…]
The remedies are primarily political ones, which include controls on hate-speech and fear-mongering by far-right demagogues like Wilders in Holland and other equally right-wing demagogues in other communities, including Muslim communities too. But all this can only work if we begin with the fundamental premise that sacredness is not something exclusive to ourselves and our own faith community. When Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists alike realise and respect the sacredness in the other, and drop the claim that they alone monopolise all that is good and holy; perhaps then we will be one step closer to recognising the fundamental humanity we share with each other ? whether we like it or not.

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Religionresearch is back!

Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Uncategorized.

As you might have noticed this site and all the other Religionresearch sites were suspended. This was due to some bandwith-issues mainly caused by this blog. We are back now and temporarily in a stripped outlook. We will try to solve the issues but in the mean time you will have to settle for this.

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