Hi,

Source:BBC News

Survey highlights Islam-West rift

Deep mutual suspicions exist between the Muslim world and the West, a survey of global opinion suggests.

Many Westerners see Muslims as fanatical, violent and intolerant, according to the study by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

Muslims, for their part, tend to view the West as selfish, immoral, and greedy - as well as fanatical and violent - the survey says.

The researchers canvassed the opinions of 14,000 people in 13 countries.

BBC Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy says a string of events, from last year's London bombings to the more recent row over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad, appear to have taken their toll on relations between Islam and the West.


Muslim opinions about the West and its people have worsened over the past year and by overwhelming margins
Pew Center report

The Pew Research Center's survey, published on Thursday, speaks of a "great divide" between the two.

It says that Muslims and Westerners blame each other for deteriorating relations.

Muslim people "have an aggrieved view of the West" and are "much more likely than Americans or Western Europeans to blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity", the authors contend.

By contrast Western publics say Muslims are held back by "government corruption, lack of education and Islamic fundamentalism", they add.

Hopeful signs?

The report says the "chasm" between Muslims and the West is also seen in judgements about how the other side treats women.

Westerners, by large margins, do not regard Muslims as "respectful of women", while majorities in four of the five Muslim countries said the same about the West.


DID ARABS CARRY OUT 9/11?
British Muslims: 56% No
French Muslims: 46% No
Indonesia: 65% No
Egypt: 59% No
Turkey: 59% No
Jordan: 53% No
(Source: Pew Center)

Despite the divide, attitudes are not uniformly negative.

Solid majorities in France, the US and Britain retain overall favourable opinions of Muslims, while positive views of Muslims have declined sharply in Spain (from 46% to 29%), the survey notes.

It says about eight in 10 people in both Spain and Germany associate Islam with fanaticism - a view that is less prevalent in France (50%), Britain (48%) and the US (43%).

Likewise, Muslim opinion is far from uniform, with Muslim minorities in Europe often attributing positive attributes to Westerners - including tolerance, generosity, and respect for women.

On the other hand, in Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia large majorities describe the West as "selfish", "arrogant", and "violent".

Muslims and Al-Qaeda

In one of the survey's most striking findings, majorities in Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan said they did not believe Arabs carried out the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.



The report says this attitude is not limited to Muslims in Muslim-dominated countries - 56% of British Muslims said the same.

The survey cited a dramatic drop in support for Osama Bin Laden in Jordan as a sign of falling support for terrorism in Muslim countries.

Less than 1% of respondents in the country - hit by triple hotel bombings last November - expressed confidence in Bin Laden, down from a quarter last year.

Confidence in the al-Qaeda leader had also fallen in Pakistan, where 38% of people expressed some confidence in him, down from 51%.

However 61% of Nigerian Muslims had at least some confidence in bin Laden, a sharp rise from 44% in May 2003.

Peace
-=SF_13=-

This is obviuos, the average informed person can see this, unless he is living in somekind of fantasy land.

But it is somewhat misleading.

Its not that Islam doesn't get along with just the West. Islam doesn't get along with everybody who isn't Muslim. You can see that all over the world that does not include the West. Places such as India, Philipines, Sudan, Indonesia, ect., which aren't Western countries. Western countries get along with most of those coutries pretty well.

There is no real hightened friction between the West and most other non-Western/non-Muslim countries around the world. We get along well, for the most part. If there is any friction it is mostly political, not cultural, there is very little cultural friction with these other countries and the West.

So its not really a case of the West aggravating Islam. Its a case of a good part of Islam that wants everyone to conform to them.

The West is doing what is normal and so are other non-Western countries around the world doing also what is normal. It is Islam (not all, but a good part of it) that seems to be agravating the situation.

So the West should continue to keep doing what it is doing. If anything it is Islam that should realize other people different beliefs and their different ways of doing things, which of course they have a hard time doing.

You must be kidding, both parts agrivate each other, have been that for 100eds of years.

I think the point Gladius is saying is that Islam has a tendency to clash with all other religons that are not under its sphere of influance. The Koran teach tolerance for other religons within the Islamic sphere of influance with the goal of converting these other religons into muslims. Those that do not accept Islamic control are dealth with by force. Its the same rationale that was behind the crusades, "you can only play with your toys in MY house".

There is some truth to this. The Muslim-Judaic conflicts only really began with the creation of Isreal and Islam and the Asian religons (hinduism, Buddahism, etc) have had several violent conflicts. To my knowledge Islam has never regarded another faith as a true equal, but then again neither did Christianity up until a few centuries ago and both religous groups have harbored violent intolerence for splinter groups within themselves.

In my opinion, all religons will soner or later clash with another religion, doesn't matter what religion it is.

Maybe budhism is the only none violent religion, but there are several that claim to be budist and held hostages in the name of liberating tibet and the religion. Possibly only a few religius leaders that can be claimed none violent.

the jains in india are very non violent, they don't even want to hurt insects. They don't even want to defend themselves in fear of hurting their attackers. You'd think they'll be gone soon but they've existed for over 2500 years. Islam is so patriachical that this aggressive behavior we usually think of comes from this toughness attitude that goes with male dominace, machismo.

I bet if you can reduce the male dominated nature of islamic societies then you'll have a lot more peaceful Middle east. Islam isn't inherently violent, it's the societies that adapt them. Remember when the islamic empire first came into existance and things there were much better than in europe? Idk what changed but things can get better, you just need that goddamn stability in the region that has been so elusive in the past 60 years.

60 years? They haven't change since the 14th century.

You don't really understand Islam, its more than just being patriarcal is what is making them aggresive towards other religions. There are other societies that are strongly patriarcal that doesn't make them aggresive towards other religions.

Originally Posted by mmarsh

I think the point Gladius is saying is that Islam has a tendency to clash with all other religons that are not under its sphere of influance. The Koran teach tolerance for other religons within the Islamic sphere of influance with the goal of converting these other religons into muslims. Those that do not accept Islamic control are dealth with by force. Its the same rationale that was behind the crusades, "you can only play with your toys in MY house".

Yes this was the point I was trying to get at.

Originally Posted by AlexKall

In my opinion, all religons will soner or later clash with another religion, doesn't matter what religion it is.

Maybe budhism is the only none violent religion, but there are several that claim to be budist and held hostages in the name of liberating tibet and the religion. Possibly only a few religius leaders that can be claimed none violent.

But right now do you see any other religion (except Islam) clashing with the West, or with each other. Yes it happens but it very rare.

You hardly see any Hindu vs Buddist, or Buddist vs Christian, or Hindus saying the West is evil. There may be some incidents here and there but overall they get along in todays world, except for one religion that is.

I am not going to say Islam is inherently violent. It isn't. All religons have violent Fundimentalists, even Christian and Jews. In College I studied all the Judeo religons Christianity/Judism/Islam. But in the Koran its much easier for a people to justify violence, and given the incredible rates of illiteracy, poverty, and superstition in the Muslim world its easy to steer people on a violent path.

Hi,

Hinduism is a very Generic Term ..... It's Not a single unified religion. ( Bhuddism , Janism , Sikhism which are Sometimes Considered Branches of Hinduism as they were All Started By People who wanted to reform the religion ..... And the Still have Great Influence on Overall Hinduism ) is Somewhat Different in terms of what it thinks about Other religion ....... Hinduism Dosen't belive in Conversons or Converting other to Hinduism ......... and Belives God Is One and Other religions just call Him by other names but it's the same One that we all Worship ..... So you can Still Worship that very God and Still be a Hindu ....... so chances of a Rift with Other Religions is a Bit reduced .. Hinduism in Itself has over 80.000 Gods and Godesses ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religi...history2.shtml


Peace
-=SF_13=-

Of course, Western abuses of the Muslim world during the Cold War and immediately after the world wars created rifts between the West and most Islamic nation. It is only logical that this rift thrives and continues to grow.