by Burke Olsen
Washington, DC -- Roughly four-in-ten Americans (39%) say they have a
favorable impression of Islam, while about as many (37%) say they have an
unfavorable view. The balance of opinion has not changed substantially in
the past year (39% favorable in July 2003). But there are significant
differences of opinion among religious groups, with white Evangelical
Protestants having a much more negative view of Islam than white Catholics,
Mainline Protestants or secular Americans.
In a new poll, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Americans were asked if
Islam is more likely to encourage violence; how many Muslims are
anti-American; and whether the Islamic religion is more likely to encourage
violence among its believers.
The results of the poll, released Thursday, September 09, 2004, can be found
online at http://pewforum.org/publications/surveys/islam.pdf
FULL TEXT
Mowahid H. Shah, "The New Cold War With
Islam," The Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 1990
Enver Masud, "The Truth About Islam," The
Wisdom Fund, 1995
Enver Masud, "Polls As Predictable
As Hitler's Willing Executioners," The Wisdom Fund, December 18, 1998
Enver Masud, "The War on Islam,"
Madrasah Books (May 1, 2003)
Edward Said, "A Window on the
World," The Guardian, August 2, 2003
[The world is dividing into two hostile camps: Islam and "us". That
is the unerring message from western governments, press, radio and
television. For Islam, read terrorists. It is reminiscent of the cold war
when the world was divided between "Reds" and us, and even a strategy of
annihilation was permissible in our defence. We now know, or we ought to
know, that so much of that was a charade; released official files
make clear the Soviet threat was for public consumption only.--John
Pilger, "John Pilger hears Blair
echo Mussolini," New Statesman, September 20, 2004]