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10 August 2012

Has multiculturalism failed in the UK?

.... It also shows that only one fifth of Muslims would support a proposal of sharia law in Britain. Yes, critics may worry it is this high, and we can't deny that some support for separatism does exist, but similarly we can't deny that some white British people support ethnic exclusionism.

From these results it would seem the characterisation of minorities as living separate lives, rejecting British values and integration into British society is, to put it mildly, a slur on those British citizens.

[A COMMENT] One in five Muslims across the board. Imagine what it’s like in Muslim areas. And you think there isn’t a problem. You are living in cloud-cuckoo land! [Guardian Cif] Read more

Further Information

This article references several surveys.

(1) The 2007 England and Wales citizenship survey

(2) The 2010 Ethnic Minority British Election Survey (EMBES)

EMBES is primarily concerned with political party preference, vote choice in 2010, attitudes towards the main party leaders and so forth – but also includes questions on topics such as language fluency, perceptions of discrimination in different fields, cultural orientations, social relationships and social capital and a small number of religious items were included in the questionnaire.

(3) The 2012 Ethnic Minority British Election Survey (EMBES) which has not been published yet. This is the survey which finds “one fifth of Muslims would support a proposal of sharia law in Britain”.

09 August 2012

The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity

The survey, which involved more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in over 80 languages, finds that in addition to the widespread conviction that there is only one God and that Muhammad is His Prophet, large percentages of Muslims around the world share other articles of faith, including belief in angels, heaven, hell and fate (or predestination).

While there is broad agreement on the core tenets of Islam, however, Muslims across the 39 countries and territories surveyed differ significantly in their levels of religious commitment, openness to multiple interpretations of their faith and acceptance of various sects and movements. [The Pew Forum] Read more

And

Pew Research Releases Telling Survey of World's Muslims

.... The results, however, show a high level of agreement about one of the most debated issues concerning Islam: Whether Muslims believe Islamic teaching is subject to various “interpretations” or only one.

As Islamic teaching is derived from the Qur’an, the Sira, and the ahadith (which together are the main sources for Sharia, or Islamic law), in essence this was a question about Muslim beliefs about the fundamentals of their faith.

.... According to the Pew survey results, a majority (more than 50%) of Muslims in 32 of 39 countries believes that “There is only one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.” [radicalislam.org] Read more