Two thirds Brits want burqa ban

Two thirds of the British public agree with the statement ‘the burqa should be banned in Britain’, our poll has found, in the wake of the ban on the niqab, or any face covering (with a few exceptions) coming into force in France this week.

We polled over 2,000 nationally representative British adults, in a question that explained the burqa is a loose garment worn by some Islamic women, which covers the face and body in public, and which is removed when the woman returns home to her household out of the view of men who are not her immediate family members.

•66% agreed with the statement ‘the burqa should be banned in Britain’

•42% strongly agreed

•27% disagreed with the statement, with 9% strongly disagreeing

•Men and women are largely in agreement over the issue (68% of men and 65% of women think it should be banned)

•While older people are more likely than their younger counterparts to favour a ban (79% of the over 60s agreed with a ban, compared to 51% of those aged 18 to 24)

[YouGov] Read more

Defamation of Religion

A 12-year campaign by Islamic countries to have religion protected from “defamation” via a series of United Nations resolutions was brought to a halt in March when Western countries and like-minded states backed a new approach that switches the focus from protecting beliefs to protecting believers.

Since 1998, the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) (now Cooperation) had won approval in the UN Human Rights Council and at the United Nations General Assembly for a series of resolutions to “combat defamation of religion and incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam and Muslims in particular”.

But critics said the concept ran against international law and free speech, and left the way open for draconian blasphemy laws like those in Pakistan.

They argued that it also allowed states where one religion predominates to keep religious minorities under tight control or even leave them open to forced conversion or oppression.

A poll of 18487 respondents in 20 nations conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org in 2009 showed that majorities in 13 of the 20 nations supported the right to criticise a religion. See here for full report.

The margins of error range from +/-3 to 4 percentage points. The surveys were conducted across the different nations between April 25 and July 9, 2009.

A summary of the results is given below.

Currently there is a controversy about criticizing religions. Which position is closer to yours:

On average, across all countries polled, 57% of respondents agree that "people should be allowed to publicly criticize a religion because people should have freedom of speech."

However, an average of 34% of respondents agree that governments "should have the right to fine or imprison people who publicly criticize a religion because such criticism could defame the religion."

Of the seven nations where most people agree with that criticism of religion should be prohibited five have overwhelmingly Muslim populations -- Egypt (71%), Pakistan (62%), Iraq (57%), Indonesia (49%), and the Palestinian territories (51%). Another two -- India (59%) and Nigeria (54%)-- have historically been plagued by sectarian violence.

Support for the right to criticize religion is strongest in the United States, with 89%, compared to just 9% support for government restrictions.

Chile is next with 82% support, followed by Mexico (81%), Britain (81%), Germany (76%), Poland (68%), Azerbaijan (67%), France (66%), Russia (61%), South Korea (59%), Turkey (54%), Kenya (54%), and Ukraine (53%).

In addition, 68% of Taiwanese and 81% in Hong Kong agree the ability to criticize religion should be a right.

The two non-Muslim countries where majorities responded by saying governments should be able to fine or imprison people for criticizing religions are India and Nigeria.

Both were founded in the 20th century with borders that were drawn by former colonial powers in a way that encompassed a variety of religions, including a large Muslim minority. And both have since experienced periodic spates of sectarian violence that have frequently involved Muslims.

This suggests that their support of government restrictions may stem not from a popular push to defend Islam -- Muslims make up roughly half of Nigeria's population but just 13% of India's -- but from a broadly shared desire to maintain order by curbing criticism of religions.

In Nigeria, that is borne out by the fact that Muslims and Christians respond almost identically to the poll question. Fifty-four percent of Christians and 53% of Muslims favor government restrictions, while 45% of Muslims and 43% of Christians say criticism of religion should be allowed.

Anti-Muslim current in Australia: study

A year-long study of religious freedom in Australia has revealed widespread distrust of Muslims and discrimination against pagans and homosexuals.

The report released Monday by the Australian Human Rights Commission found that acceptance of religious difference had not become easier as the population became more diverse.

After taking more than 2,000 public submissions and consulting with more than 200 religious, secular and community groups, the report found there was a "pressing need" for education about religions to reduce ignorance and fear.

"There is a current of anti-Muslim discourse that suggests an entrenched hostility often related to overseas events," the report said in its conclusion. "Significant distrust of Muslims and Islam was expressed by some," it added, saying there were reports of discrimination against Muslims and other religious minorities. [AFP] Read more

Call to reduce fear of religions THERE'S a pressing need to use education to reduce ignorance and fear about religions in Australia, a new report says. It said there is a current anti-Muslim discourse that suggests entrenched hostility which is often related to overseas events.

The report, entitled Freedom of Religion in the 21st Century, was prepared for the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The researchers said some Christians fear the introduction of sharia law in Australia and believe that governments appease Muslim communities by giving Islam preferential treatment. [News.com.au] Read more [via National Secular Society]

Half of Europeans say Islam is a religion of intolerance

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a social democratic foundation based in Berlin, has published “Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report” covering eight European countries (Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Hungary). It includes the results of a survey of over 8000 Europeans.

Certain views were strongly supported by the peopled surveyed: around 50% percent claim their country hosts too many immigrants, between 17% (Netherlands) and 70% (Poland) supported anti-Semitic statements, and 33% believe in a natural hierarchy between ethnicities.

Islam also plays a large role, with 50% of participants claiming that it is a religion of intolerance.

The full report is available here

The results regarding Muslims are summarised below

Number of Muslims in Europe

Table 1 shows the % of the population that is Muslim in the five countries that have Muslim populations larger than 1% of their total.

Table 1: Migrants & Muslims in Europe

Migrants & Muslims in Europe (% of population)
Country	Muslims	Migrants	Main Countries of origin
France	10.0	10.4	North Africa, esp. Algeria
Germany	7.0	12.3	Turkey, former Soviet Union, eastern Europe
Great Britain	4.0	9.1	South East Asia, Pakistan, Caribbean islands, Poland
Italy	2.1	4.3	Balkan states incl. Romania, Africa
Netherlands	6.0	10.1	Indonesia, Surinam, Morocco,Turkey

Anti-Muslim Attitudes

After statistical testing, three opinion statements were selected for examination in the survey.

They cover (1) the general impression that there are too many Muslims in the country, (2) the charge that Muslims make too many demands, and (3) broad-brush criticism of Islam as a religion of intolerance.

Four further statements were surveyed in a random half of the sample.

These cover a positive attitude that sees Muslims as an enrichment and the idea that there are great cultural differences between the majority society and Muslims, especially concerning attitudes towards women. We also surveyed the idea that Muslims generally support and condone terrorism.

In most of the countries a majority believe Islam to be a religion of intolerance, with agreement just below 50 percent only in Great Britain and the Netherlands. In almost all the countries more than half of respondents said that Muslims make too many demands.

Table 2: Anti-Muslim Statements - % Agreeing

Anti-Muslim statements (% in agreement)
Item	D	GB	F	NL	I
There are too many Muslims in [country]	46.1	44.7	36.2	41.5	49.7
Muslims are too demanding	54.1	50.0	52.8	51.8	64.7
Islam is a religion of intolerance	52.5	47.2	52.3	46.7	60.4
The Muslim culture fits well into [country/Europe]	16.6	39.0	49.8	38.7	27.4
Muslims’ attitudes towards women contradict our values	76.1	81.5	78.8	78.2	82.2
Many Muslims perceive terrorists as heroes	27.9	37.6	-	29.2	28.5
The majority of Muslims find terrorism justifiable	17.1	26.3	23.3	19.9	21.5

* In France the statements were formulated positively and subsequently reverse coded. In these cases the value for France is the percentage of respondents who “somewhat” or “strongly” disagreed with the statement

Britain, Italy and the Netherlands more than 40 percent of respondents complain that there are too many Muslims in their country

A majority of more than 70 percent of European respondents find that Muslim attitudes towards women are incompatible with their own values.

Overall in the surveyed countries about one third think that Muslims treat Islamist terrorists as heroes, although somewhat fewer believe that terrorism finds moral support in the Muslim community (under 20% in Germany and the Netherlands).

It is conspicuous that Europeans are largely united in their rejection of Muslims and Islam.

Survey details

In each country a sample of 1,000 individuals aged 16 or above was selected for landline telephone interviews. The samples were selected to be representative of the respective national population. Deviations from population demographics were dealt with by weighting.

Data was taken from 8,026 European interviewees representing approx. 270 million Europeans aged 16 or above. The samples include only persons holding the citizenship of the surveyed country.

The mean age was just under 47, with the youngest sample in Poland (44) and the oldest in Germany (48). Taking the sample as a whole, 16 percent of respondents had at least one parent or grandparent who was an immigrant, but the countries differed considerably in this respect.

In France almost one third of interviewees belonged to a migrant community in some sense, in Italy fewer than 3 percent.

Poll finds huge support for far right 'if they gave up violence' - And 52 per cent of Britons agree that ‘Muslims create problems in the UK’

Huge numbers of Britons would support an anti-immigration English nationalist party if it was not associated with violence and fascist imagery, according to the largest survey into identity and extremism conducted in the UK. [See details below]

A Populus poll found that 48% of the population would consider supporting a new anti-immigration party committed to challenging Islamist extremism ….

Anti-racism campaigners said the findings suggested Britain's mainstream parties were losing touch with public opinion on issues of identity and race.

The poll suggests that the level of backing for a far-right party could equal or even outstrip that in countries such as France, the Netherlands and Austria.

39% of Asian Britons against further immigration

According to the survey, 39% of Asian Britons, 34% of white Britons and 21% of black Britons wanted all immigration into the UK to be stopped permanently, or at least until the economy improved.

And 43% of Asian Britons, 63% of white Britons and 17% of black Britons agreed with the statement that "immigration into Britain has been a bad thing for the country".

Over half of all respondents agree "Muslims create problems in the UK"

Just over half of respondents – 52% – agreed with the proposition that "Muslims create problems in the UK".

The poll also identified a majority keen to be allowed to openly criticise religion, with 60% believing they "should be allowed to say whatever they believe about religion".

By contrast, fewer than half – 42% – said "people should be allowed to say whatever they believe about race".

Source: guardian.co.uk Read more

And another summary.

Half of Britain 'would vote for far-Right parties if they gave up violence'

Almost half the country would back a far-Right party if they gave up violence, an astonishing new poll revealed today.

A total of 48 per cent said that they would support a group that vowed to crack down on immigration and Islamic extremists.

They would also restrict the building of mosques and order the flag of St George or the Union Jack be flown on all public buildings.

In one of the most revealing questions, pollsters Populus asked people if they would back a party that ‘wants to defend the English, create an English parliament, control immigration and challenge Islamic extremism’.

A total of 48 per cent said they would either ‘definitely support’ or ‘consider supporting’ a party with such an agenda, if it shunned violence and fascist imagery.

…. In the 12 months to last September, 238,950 migrants were allowed into Britain, the highest figure since records began.

Sixty per cent of people thought immigration had been ‘a bad thing’ for England, against 40 per cent who said it had been ‘good’.

Thirty-four per cent said immigration should be stopped permanently or until the economy improved. The report also found opposition comes from all races, not just ‘white Britons’.

'And 52 per cent of Britons agree that ‘Muslims create problems in the UK’.

Source: MailOnline Read more

Details of Survey

The Searchlight Educational Trust commissioned the polling organisation Populus to carry out this survey.

With 5,054 respondents and 91 questions it is one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys into attitude, identity and extremism in the UK to date. The findings are in a major report called “Fear and Hope – the New Politics of Identity”. See full project report here.

Muslims prefer democracy but want stoning for adultery and death for apostasy

Pew Global Attitudes Survey 2010

A full copy of this survey of seven Muslim countries can be seen here or downloaded from here.

These results are shocking. Most Muslims favour stoning to death for adultery, whipping or amputation for theft, and the death penalty for apostasy.

They are so shocking you might be inclined to look for excuses; stoning and amputation don’t happen that much, they are more a symbol of how crime is frowned upon. [You could also believe that if the threat of extremely harsh punishment is the only answer to wrong doing then that society has a problem.]

But death for apostasy! For your beliefs, your conscience. Well, that gets right to the heart of the problem with Islam.

And around a half (85% in Pakistan!) want gender segregation in the workplace. Can Muslims think only of nothing but procreation. How can you run a modern economy like that?

You might wonder too, what the results would have been if Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq had been included in the survey.

Islam’s Role in Political Life

Majorities of Muslims in three of the six predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, as well as in Nigeria, say that Islam plays a very or fairly large role in the political life of their countries.

Role of Islam in Politics % who say role is:
Country	Large	Small	DK
Indonesia	89	10	1
Nigeria	88	11	1
Turkey	69	19	12
Lebanon	54	45	1
Egypt	48	49	3
Pakistan	46	36	18
Jordan	34	64	2

In Pakistan, a 46% plurality of Muslims say Islam plays a large role, while 36% say it plays a small role in Pakistani politics. Opinions are about evenly divided in Egypt, where 48% of Muslims say Islam plays a large role in their country’s political life and 49% say it plays only a small role.

Most Welcome Islam’s Influence

Muslims in Nigeria and in nearly all of the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed overwhelmingly welcome Islamic influence over their countries’ politics.

Islam's Influence in Politics % who say it is:
Country	Positive	Negative	NS
Indonesia	91	6	3
Egypt	85	2	13
Nigeria	82	10	8
Jordan	76	14	10
Pakistan	69	6	22
Lebanon	58	32	10
Turkey	38	31	31

Only in Turkey are opinions about the role of Islam in political life more mixed. About four in ten (38%) Turkish Muslims say Islam plays a large role and embrace its influence in their country’s politics or say it is bad that Islam plays only a small role; about three-in-ten (31%) say Islam’s influence is negative.

Views of Gender Segregation

Muslim publics offer mixed views of gender segregation in the workplace. Pakistani Muslims are the most supportive: 85% say they would favor making segregation of men and women in the workplace the law in their country. A narrower majority (54%) of Muslims in Egypt also support making gender segregation the law in their country.

Gender Segregation in the Workplace % who:
Country	Favour	Oppose	NS
Pakistan	85	11	4
Egypt	54	44	2
Jordan	50	44	6
Nigeria	49	48	3
Indonesia	38	59	3
Turkey	13	84	3
Lebanon	11	89	-

In Lebanon, Turkey and Indonesia, majorities of Muslims reject legalized gender segregation in the workplace. More than eight-in-ten in Lebanon (89%) and Turkey (84%) express this opinion, as do 59% of Muslims in Indonesia. In most of the countries where this question was asked, men and women express similar views of gender segregation in the workplace.

Support for Severe Laws

Majorities of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Nigeria say they would favor making harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery; whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion the law in their country.

Views of Harsh Punishments % who favour:
Country	Stoning for Adultery	Whipping & Amputation	Death for Apostasy
Egypt	82	77	84
Pakistan	82	82	76
Jordan	70	58	86
Nigeria	56	65	51
Indonesia	42	36	30
Lebanon	23	13	6
Turkey	16	13	5

For the most part, views of strict punishments do not vary consistently across demographic groups in seven countries where these questions were asked. One notable exception, however, is in Nigeria, where Muslim men express considerably more support than Muslim women for these types of punishments.

The original Pew table uses these headings

Stoning people who commit adultery
Whippings/cutting off of hands for theft and robbery
Death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion

Support for Democracy

In nearly all of the countries surveyed, support for harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion coexists with support for democratic governance.

Views of Democracy
Country	Preferable	Not Always Preferable	Doesn't Matter for Me	DK
Lebanon	81	12	5	2
Turkey	76	6	5	13
Jordan	69	17	10	4
Nigeria	66	18	16	1
Indonesia	65	12	19	4
Egypt	59	22	16	2
Pakistan	42	15	21	22

With the exception of Pakistan, majorities of Muslims in all of the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed and in Nigeria say that democracy is preferable to any other kind of government.

The original Pew table uses these headings

Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government
In some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable
For someone like me, it doesn’t matter what kind of government we have

Survey Details

Sample design: Multi-stage cluster sample stratified proportional to population size and urban/rural population. Mode: Face-to-face adults 18 plus. Language: Main language of country. Fieldwork dates: April – May, 2010. Sample size: 1,000. Margin of error: ±4.0 percentage points. Representative: Adult population. With the following exceptions:

Indonesia: Sample design representative of roughly 88% of the population

Lebanon: Sample design excludes a small area in Beirut controlled by a militia group and a few villages in the south Lebanon, which border Israel and are inaccessible to outsiders.

Pakistan: Sample design excludes the FATA/FANA areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir for security reasons as well as areas of instability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [formerly the North-West Frontier Province] and Baluchistan – roughly 16% of the population, with disproportional sampling of the urban population. Sample size: 2,000. Margin of error: ±3.0 percentage points.

The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project

The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. More than 240,000 interviews in 57 countries have been conducted as part of the project’s work.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does so by conducting public opinion polling and social science research; by analyzing news coverage; and by holding forums and briefings. It does not take positions on policy issues.

French and Germans consider Islam “a threat”

Islam is considered a ‘threat’ by millions of French and Germans to their national identity.

A poll by France’s Le Monde newspaper also found a majority in both countries believe Muslims have ‘not integrated properly’. Le Monde ran the results under a headline which brands efforts to get different religious communities to live side by side as a ‘failure’.

France, with seven million, and Germany, 4.3 million, have the largest Muslim communities in Europe. There are 2.4million in Britain.

Last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded that her country’s multicultural society had ‘failed’, while French president Nicolas Sarkozy has also complained about the growing influence of radical Islam. [MailOnline] Read more

A copy of the poll can be obtained from IFOP the French market research company that did the interviewing. Click here

A tabular summary of the results prepared by LibertyPhile is given below.

Opinion regarding the presence of a Muslim community in one’s country

Question: Generally speaking, would you say the presence of a Muslim community in France/Germany is ... ?

% who say presence of Muslim community in France/Germany is:
Country	Threat to country's identity	Factor of cultural enrichment	Neither
France	42	22	36
Germany	40	24	26

The original poll result uses the following column headings:

A threat to our country’s identity
A factor of cultural enrichment for our country
Neither one nor the other

Perception of the integration of Muslims

Question: Would you say that today Muslims and people of Muslim origin are well integrated in French/German society?

% who would say Muslims are well integrated in France/Germany
	Yes		No
	Totally	Moderately	Not very	Not at all	Total no
France	4	28	48	20	68
Germany	4	21	55	20	75

Why are Muslims poorly integrated

Question: Among the following reasons, which two do you consider best explain why Muslims and people of Muslim origin are poorly integrated in French/German society?

Which two reasons best explain why Muslims are poorly integrated? % saying
Reasons	France	Germany
Their refusal to integrate in society	61	67
Cultural differences are too great	40	34
Group together in neighbourhoods and schools	37	32
Racism on the part of French/German people	18	15
Economic difficulties and unemployment	20	10
Inadequate actions and budgets by authorities	2	5

Base: Only those believing that Muslims are poorly integrated in society, i.e. 68% of French sample and 75% of German sample

Characteristics associated with Islam

Question: Which three words from the following list correspond most closely to your perception of Islam?

Which three words correspond most closely to your perception of Islam? % saying
Words	France	Germany
Rejection of western values	31	34
Fanaticism	18	24
Submission	17	14
Violence	6	7
Protection of women	3	2
Justice	3	5
Liberty	2	2
Democracy	1	1
Don't know	19	11

Adhesion to the principle of the construction of mosques

Question: Are you for, against, or indifferent to the construction of mosques in France/in Germany when there is a demand from believers?

% for, against, or indifferent, to the construction of mosques
Country	For	Against	Indifferent	No answer
France	20	39	34	7
Germany	18	50	25	7

Survey Details

France: Sample of 809 persons. Germany: Sample of 801 persons. Representative of the respective populations aged 18 and over. Representativeness is based on the quota method (gender, age, profession of head of household) after stratification by region and size of town.

Data collection: Interviews were conducted through online self-completion questionnaire. Fieldwork dates. France: December 7-9, 2010. Germany: December 3-8, 2010