This is entirely consistent with conclusions by Ibn Warraq in his book,
Why I Am Not a Muslim.
BR Note
----------------------------------------------------------
Washington Post
How widespread is Islamic fundamentalism in Western Europe?
* By _Erik Voeten_ (https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/erikvoeten/)
* (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Reader feedback for 'How
widespread is Islamic fundamentalism in Western Europe?') * December 13,
2013
One narrative about Muslim immigrants in Europe is that only a relatively
small proportion holds views that are sometimes labeled as “fundamentalist.”
_Ruud Koopmans_ (http://www.wzb.eu/en/persons/ruud-koopmans) from the
Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin _argues_
(http://www.wzb.eu/en/press-release/islamic-fundamentalism-is-widely-spread)
that this perspective is incorrect.
He conducted a telephone survey of 9,000 respondents in the Netherlands,
Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, and Sweden and interviewed both Turkish
and Moroccan immigrants as well as a comparison group of Christians.
His first finding is that majorities of Muslim immigrants believe that
there is only one interpretation of the Koran possible to which every Muslim
should stick (75 percent), and that religious rules are more important than
the laws of the country in which they live (65 percent). Moreover, these
views are as widespread among younger Muslims as among older generations.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/files/2013/12/Picture1.png)
Graph by Ruud Koopmans
He then looks at hostility toward out-groups. Fifty-eight percent do not
want homosexual friends, 45 percent think that Jews cannot be trusted, and 54
percent believe that the West is out to destroy Muslim culture. Among
Christians, 23 percent believe that Muslims are out to destroy Western
culture.
Koopmans says these results hold when you control for the varying
socio-economic characteristics of these groups (although the analyses are not
presented).
Religious fundamentalism is the strongest correlate of out-group hostility
both among Muslims and Christians. Fundamentalism here is taken to mean
beliefs that believers should return to unchangeable rules from the past, that
the Bible/Koran should be taken literally, and that religious rules are
more important than secular laws. Although Muslims are more likely to be
fundamentalist and hostile toward out-groups than Christians, there are many
more Christians in these countries. So, the overall numbers of Christians who
feel hostile toward Muslims still vastly outnumber the Muslims who believe
the West is out to destroy Muslim culture. This accounts for the success
of extremist parties in many of the countries in which the survey was
conducted. It may be that Muslim perceptions are partially a response to this
but
we can’t tell. (The study, as far as I can tell, has little to say about
the sources of these attitudes).
This study is bound to attract ample media attention (it already has) and
will be seen as a verification for political parties with extreme views,
such as Geert Wilders’s PVV in the Netherlands. This is not an issue per se,
facts are facts, however uncomfortable they may be, and from what I can
tell, this is _a professional survey_
(http://www.wzb.eu/en/research/migration-and-diversity/migration-and-integration/projects/six-country-immigrant-integr
ation-comparat) (technical report _here_
(http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/80345/1/756598168.pdf) ) done by _a
reputable academic scholar_
(http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=17eRF2YAAAAJ&hl=en) . Indeed, the
survey was conducted in 2008, and the researchers appear to have waited until
now to publicize these findings. Nevertheless, I wished that the
publication of a sensitive survey like this would be partnered with a bit more
information. For example, I could not even track down country-specific
marginals
for the main survey questions and key analyses in _the article _
(http://www.wzb.eu/sites/default/files/u6/koopmans_englisch_ed.pdf) come
without
tables or graphs.
Still, the finding that 54 percent of Muslims in these six Western European
countries believe that the West is out to destroy Muslim culture can
hardly be ignored. A Dutch newspaper, Trouw,_ cites_
(http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4728/Islam/article/detail/3561716/2013/12/13/Enquete-bewijst-dat-veel-Europe
se-moslims-fundi-zijn-Of-toch-niet.dhtml) Arabist Jan Jaap de Ruiter who
argues that Muslims have a tendency to give “socially desirable” answers to
survey questions. Even if this is true, I’d still be very concerned that
the apparent socially desirable answer is that Jews should not be trusted
and that the West is out to get Muslims. An added concern is the absence of
generational differences in the survey responses; suggesting that this is
not an issue that is likely to go away any time soon.
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