Poll: Muslims, atheists most likely to reject violence

Poll: Muslims, atheists most likely to reject violence

Stephen C Webster
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/03/poll-muslims-atheists-most-likely-to-reject-violence/

New data from polling firm Gallup shows that out of all the religious groups in the U.S., Muslims are most likely to reject violence, followed by the non-religious atheists and agnostics.

Through interviews with 2,482 Americans, Gallup found that 78 percent of Muslims believe violence which kills civilians is never justified, whereas just 38 percent of Protestant Christians and 39 percent of Catholics agreed with that sentiment. Fifty-six percent of atheists answered similarly.

When Gallup put the question a bit more pointedly, asking if it would be justified for "an individual person or a small group of persons to target and kill civilians," the responses were a bit more uniform. Respondents from nearly all groups were widely opposed to such tactics, with Protestants and Catholics at 71 percent against. Muslims still had the highest number opposed, at 89 percent. Seventy-six percent of atheists were also opposed.

The Gallup survey, conducted over the course of a year, was designed to measure religious and non-religious attitudes toward violence 10 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Perhaps most tellingly, 92 percent of Muslims surveyed said they did not believe any Muslim in their community had sympathy toward al Qaeda terrorists, but just 56 percent of Protestants and 63 percent of Catholics said the same.

The survey also found that President Barack Obama enjoys an 80 percent approval rating among Muslim Americans, according to an attached report, "Muslim Americans: Faith, Freedom, and the Future" (PDF) .

American sentiment toward Muslims at large has only sank in recent years. A Pew poll found in August of 2010 that just 30 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Muslims. Republicans lead the divide, at 54 percent who hold unfavorable views, compared to 27 percent of Democrats.

I personally think they would.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I personally think they would.

Do you think their personal beliefs as a Muslim or Atheist makes them more prone to violence then Judeo/Christian religion?

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I personally think they would.

why do you think this study found the opposite to be true then?

Liberal media.

You ask another side, and the poll would be the opposite. Pure propaganda regardless of viewpoint.

How about instead of the religion, we focus on the individual?

Originally posted by Mr. Rhythmic
You ask another side, and the poll would be the opposite.

what side are you talking about?

I'd assume this was a random sample of people

ive never witnessed athiests being more violent. muslims yes

when have you witnessed violent muslims?

i think muslims claim that they reject violence more often than they actually reject violence. ofcourse their background and culture has quite a bit to say about this too.

positive atheist are almost always less violent than their relegious counterparts simply because nonsensical violence is one of the main reasons why people reject relegion.

negetive atheist{i.e. people who dont concoiusly reject relegion but are either born without it or passively dont care for it} are about as violent as average human are minus the extra motivation provided by relegion. thats can still be pretty violent though.

negetive atheists with nationalistic/gang related/self aggrandising/leader worshipping/racist/sexist ideals/cultures: can be just as violent as extremist relegious people, because they have replaced the negetivity of relegion with other beleifs that are negetive.

While it's not a huge surprise that Muslims consider themselves less violent than Christians consider Muslims to be, some of the results were somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, this will be used more as a form of social leverage than as a data point, but that's the nature of these things.

That Christians in general are much more quick to justify killing than Muslims is somewhat surprising. Though maybe not in our country, where negative views on Islam have likely scared Muslims into hyper-passivity, whereas it's allowed Christians to foster a sort of righteous anger that goes unchecked by the majority of our culture. It's much easier for an angry Christian to find peers, supporters, followers, etc. and not be outcast than it is for a Muslim.

Originally posted by leonheartmm
i think muslims claim that they reject violence more often than they actually reject violence. ofcourse their background and culture has quite a bit to say about this too.

positive atheist are almost always less violent than their relegious counterparts simply because nonsensical violence is one of the main reasons why people reject relegion.

negetive atheist{i.e. people who dont concoiusly reject relegion but are either born without it or passively dont care for it} are about as violent as average human are minus the extra motivation provided by relegion. thats can still be pretty violent though.

negetive atheists with nationalistic/gang related/self aggrandising/leader worshipping/racist/sexist ideals/cultures: can be just as violent as extremist relegious people, because they have replaced the negetivity of relegion with other beleifs that are negetive.

You're generalizing a lot here. Of course your created categories are true when self-contained, but you have to consider the percentages of atheists that would fall into each grouping. My guess is that you'd find a lot less hardcore nationalists, for example, among atheists, for much the same reasons as they reject organized religions. Same with many of the other categories. Certainly less racists than many religions, because such hatred is built into many of them.

In other words, yes, racist, sexist, idol worshipping atheists will be more violent. No argument there. But racist, sexist, idol worshipping anything will be more violent. I've seen similar randomized polls and studies where atheists are among the lowest in terms of racism and sexism, so I'm not pulling this out of nowhere. I've cited the studies and polls elsewhere in this forum, though the exact data escapes my memory atm.

Your comments on Muslims are also unfounded. It makes intuitive sense to think that they'd reject violence more than they practice nonviolence, but substantiating that claim is the harder part.

Originally posted by inimalist
when have you witnessed violent muslims?

Originally posted by chomperx9
do i really need to explain ? come on now

When you change the discussion to percentages, however, it's different. Also change the discussion to include those in our country, not worldwide. The poll was Americans after all. The results seem to suggest that American Muslims are less violent than American Christians. Do you oppose this idea?

If you want to cite al Qaeda, it's a strawman, not pertaining to the poll's data.

Originally posted by leonheartmm
i think muslims claim that they reject violence more often than they actually reject violence.

More than a few tests have shown at everyone believes themselves to be more moral than they really are.

Originally posted by Digi
When you change the discussion to percentages, however, it's different. Also change the discussion to include those in our country, not worldwide. The poll was Americans after all. The results seem to suggest that American Muslims are less violent than American Christians. Do you oppose this idea?

If you want to cite al Qaeda, it's a strawman, not pertaining to the poll's data.

Originally posted by chomperx9
since I live in the US I have witnessed more violent christians than muslims, sure.

Then you're somewhat in agreement with the poll's results.

Originally posted by chomperx9
but there are more christians here, so you will find a bigger % of violent christians that are US citizens compared to muslim US citizens.

Back the train up here. Total numbers aren't percentages. Saying there are more Christians, as you do, doesn't invalidate that a higher percentage of Christians are violent in America. Just wanted to make sure you understood that, because your sentence here was poorly worded. Whether we're talking about 1,000 or 1 million, it doesn't matter. Only at smaller total numbers do percentages stop being important, since percentages can be skewed more easily by anomalous results.

Originally posted by chomperx9
reason for US muslims not being as violent with their religion over here is because the US will not tolerate any violence or threats over religion.

That's one potential reason for it, yes. I mentioned this as well.

Doesn't change the fact that Christians are, on the whole, likely more violent in this country. The reasons are largely superfluous, and somewhat speculative, but the data remains.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
More than a few tests have shown at everyone believes themselves to be more moral than they really are.

Heh.

it is not about who you think commits more violence, but of the religious beliefs of those who think violence against civilians is justified

Digi, one of the main reasons Muslims in America may be so passive is that they are the ones who could afford to immigrate away from their home nations, all the way to North America, rather than the poorer ones who end up in Europe. Upper/Middle class people who have escaped brutal regimes and have seen innocent people abused by them are probably less likely to want to target civilians with violence

Originally posted by chomperx9
do i really need to explain ? come on now

classic chomper

Originally posted by Digi
Then you're somewhat in agreement with the poll's results.

Back the train up here. Total numbers aren't percentages. Saying there are more Christians, as you do, doesn't invalidate that a higher percentage of Christians are violent in America. Just wanted to make sure you understood that, because your sentence here was poorly worded. Whether we're talking about 1,000 or 1 million, it doesn't matter. Only at smaller total numbers do percentages stop being important, since percentages can be skewed more easily by anomalous results.

That's one potential reason for it, yes. I mentioned this as well.

Doesn't change the fact that Christians are, on the whole, likely more violent in this country. The reasons are largely superfluous, and somewhat speculative, but the data remains.

Heh.

Originally posted by chomperx9
but most of the violence you find from a christian in this country usually involves financial,problems, love, and other reasons. Religion is not one of the 1st topics with christians that leads them to violence.

Originally posted by King Kandy
What? And Muslim's don't have any of those factors? I don't think that's a real trend.