Britons are suspicious towards Muslims, study finds

[Al-khiyal]

Britons are suspicious towards Muslims, study finds

January 9, 2010 -- The British public are concerned at the rise of Islam in the UK and fear that the country is deeply divided along religious lines, according to a major survey. More than half the population would be strongly opposed to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood, the study found. A large proportion of the country believes that the multicultural experiment has failed, with 52 per cent considering that Britain is deeply divided along religious lines and 45 per cent saying that religious diversity has had a negative impact. Only a quarter of Britons feel positive towards Muslims, while more than a third report feeling “cool” towards them.

The findings, to be published later this month in the respected British Social Attitudes Survey, show that far greater opposition to Islam than to any other faith and reveal that most people are willing to limit freedom of speech in an attempt to silence religious extremists. David Voas, professor of population studies at Manchester University, who analysed the data, said that people were becoming intolerant towards all religions because of “the degree to which Islam is perceived as a threat to social cohesion”. He said: “Muslims deserve to be the focus of policy on social cohesion, because no other group elicits so much disquiet.” The “size and visibility” of Islamic communities has led to serious concerns about their impact on British society, Prof Voas concludes. “This apparent threat to national identity (or even, some fear, to security) reduces the willingness to accommodate free expression. Opinion is divided, and many people remain tolerant of unpopular speech as well as distinctive dress and religious behaviour, but a large segment of the British population is unhappy about these subcultures.”

Researchers interviewed 4,486 people for the survey, which is published annually by the National Centre for Social Research. They found that respondents with no qualifications were twice as likely to have negative attitudes towards Muslims as with those who had degrees. The report describes a high level of unease regarding the UK’s Muslim population, estimated at around two million, with many people considering that it poses a threat to the nation’s identity. While 55 per cent say that they would be “bothered” by the construction of a large mosque in their community, only 15 per cent would be similarly concerned by a large church. Nevertheless, the research found considerable suspicion towards those of any faith who hold deeply religious views, while there was a widespread reluctance to see matters of faith intruding into the public sphere. Nearly half (45 per cent) of Britons believe that laws and policy decisions would be worse if more politicians were deeply religious - almost double the number who think that they would be better.

[Al-khiyal]

Is Islamophobia real?

January 12, 2010 -- Banning Islam4UK is about the most popular thing any politician could do right now, as the British Social Attitudes survey makes clear. This authoritative survey of public opinion has already been in the news for the level of hostility and suspicion it reveals towards Muslims. But the opposition to free speech for "religious extremists" is very much greater. Only 6% of the British population would "definitely" allow such people to hold public meetings, and only 7% would definitely allow them to publish books. There are clear majorities to prevent both activities – 70% against public meetings and 57% against the publication of extremist books.

This makes odd reading in the face of continuing propaganda about how freedom of speech is one of the core values we defend against Islamists. But the survey's conclusions go on to show that there is clear evidence of the unpopularity of Muslims in Britain today. While there are some people who dislike all religions, and all zealotry, they are far outnumbered by the people who dislike Muslims in particular. As David Voas and Rodney Ling write:

.....far more people respond unfavourably to Muslims than to others. Second – and this is the crucial point – very few people are negative about any other group on its own. Of the people who feel cool towards Buddhists, 83 per cent are likewise cool towards Muslims. Of people who are neutral or positive about Muslims, a mere four per cent are negative about Buddhists. The same pattern can be seen when comparing attitudes to Muslims and Jews.

.....some of the antipathy towards Muslims comes from people with a generalised dislike of anyone different. [but] a larger subset of the population – about a fifth – responds negatively only to Muslims. [and] relatively few people feel unfavourable towards any other religious or ethnic group on its own.

Dislike of Muslims in the survey is clearly related to the belief that religious diversity is harming Britain; something that 45% of the population believe. Among the irreligious these proportions are reversed. 52% think Britain is "deeply divided along religious lines". And further to point up the question of what religions are felt to be dangerously diverse, one half of the sample were asked whether whether they would object to the construction of a large mosque: 55% would; the other half were asked how they would feel about the construction of a large church in their neighbourhood: 15% would object.

Of course, the take-away message from almost all large surveys of public opinion is that democracy is a completely crazy idea. A huge amount depends on the framing of questions: one example from this survey is that, 42% think that people "should not be allowed" to wear veils, turbans, or crucifixes; apparently this means wearing them anywhere. But if they are asked the more limited and concrete question of whether such symbols should be borne by people who work with the general public, the number wanting them banned drops to 30%. Bundling veils, turbans, and crucifixes up together as symbolic of "religion" flies in the face of the earlier answers about Islam. I find it impossible to believe that there is any significant hostility to Sikh bus conductors for their turbans, or that crucifixes (by their nature almost always invisible) and even headscarves produce the same reactions as a veil would.

But making all due allowances for the vagueness and perversity of public opinion, there still seems to be a solid lump of malignity towards Muslims revealed by this. Of course, the only person as pleased by the results as Alan Johnson will be Anjem Choudhary himself. All adolescent boys want to chant, like Millwall fans "No one likes us; we don't care" and now they have figures on their side. Incidentally, the proportion prepared to admit to disliking black people is only 10%. Does that mean racism is less respectable, or less widespread?

[Ruks]

well i guess those respondents will be voting BNP this election.