Poll among European Muslims

Pew Research has come out with a new survey, charting the divide between Muslims and the West.

It is interesting to see how European Muslims see the West.

While Europe's Muslim minorities are about as likely as Muslims elsewhere to see relations between Westerners and Muslims as generally bad, they more often associate positive attributes to Westerners - including tolerance, generosity, and respect for women. And in a number of respects Muslims in Europe are less inclined to see a clash of civilizations than are some of the general publics surveyed in Europe. Notably, they are less likely than non-Muslims in Europe to believe that there is a conflict between modernity and being a devout Muslim.

Solid majorities of the general publics in Germany and Spain say that there is a natural conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society. But most Muslims in both of those countries disagree. And in France, the scene of recent riots in heavily Muslim areas, large percentages of both the general public and the Muslim minority population feel there is no conflict in being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

Pew surveyed Muslims in the UK, Germany, France and Spain.

25% of Spanish Muslims think there is a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in Western Society. That compared to 28% in France, 36% in Germany and 47% in the UK. Among non-Muslims the percentages go from 26% in France to 70% in Germany.

The survey also asked people in non-Muslim countries whether or not they see a conflict between being a devout Christian and living in a modern society. Majorities in all countries - as well as majorities of Muslims in four European countries - say they see no conflict. However, a relatively large minority of Germans (37%) sees a conflict between being a devout Christian and living in a modern society.

When asked if violence against civilians can be justified to defend Islam - 35% of French Muslims said yes (often/sometimes or rarely) compared to about 25% of Spanish and British Muslims and 13% of German Muslims. In France, Spain and the UK, about 15% said it can be often/sometimes be justified.

On the other hand, many Muslims don't believe that Muslims are responsible for terror. 35% of Spanish Muslims think Arabs weren't responsible for the 9/11 attacks, compared with about 45% of German and French Muslims and 56% of British Muslims.

Overall, the Germans and Spanish express much more negative views of both Muslims and Arabs than do the French, British or Americans. Just 36% in Germany, and 29% in Spain, express favorable opinions of Muslims; comparable numbers in the two countries have positive impressions of Arabs (39% and 33%, respectively). In France, Great Britain and the U.S., solid majorities say they have favorable opinions of Muslims, and about the same numbers have positive views of Arabs.

These differences are reflected as well in opinions about negative traits associated with Muslims. Roughly eight-in-ten Spanish (83%) and Germans (78%) say they associate Muslims with being fanatical. But that view is less prevalent in France (50%), Great Britain (48%) and the U.S. (43%).

In many ways, the views of Europe's Muslims are distinct from those of both Western publics and Muslims in the Middle East and Asia. Most European Muslims express favorable opinions of Christians, and while their views of Jews are less positive than those of Western publics, they are far more positive than those of Muslim publics. And in France, a large majority of Muslims (71%) say they have favorable opinions of Jews.

Moreover, while publics in largely Muslim countries generally view Westerners as violent and immoral, this view is not nearly as prevalent among Muslims in France, Spain and Germany. British Muslims however, are the most critical of the four minority publics studied - and they come closer to views of Muslims around the world in their opinions of Westerners.

It is interesting to note that there doesn't seem to be a correlation between the views expressed by the Muslims and how they are viewed by the non-Muslim population. 60% of Spaniards, for example, view Muslims as violent, while only 32% of British people say the same, despite the fact that both countries have experienced terror attacks, and that their Muslim population justifies violence at exactly the same percentages.

Source: Pew Research (English)