I often think that if I had it all to do over again I would become an actuary since I just love numbers and polls and figures and maps and all that public opinion stuff.
Imagine my surprise and delight when I came across a whole bunch of surveys about the state of Christian, Muslim relationships in a blog I sometimes write for called "Muslims Against Sharia!"
The blog itself is put together by a bunch of people who are reform minded and I have to admit that they seem very even handed and rational in their treatment of volatile issues concerning the Middle-East and the relationship of Islam with the rest of the world!
Or at least as even handed as you can be with such a hot potato!
(Where else would you find a blog that compares the Arab / Israeli conflict to a vegetable, eh!)
Looking over some of their past issues I came across a page with the results of polls they have been conducting over the past year or so, and I would like to give you the highlights of some of the questions they asked!
Now these totals will not always equal 100% because of rounding and fringe answers, plus they are not scientifically accurate.
But they should give us a fair idea of where everyone sits on various subjects.
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The first one was pretty straightforward: Should Muslims and non-Muslims Have Equal Rights?
-Muslims should have more rights than non-Muslims
-In a Muslim country, Muslims should have more rights than non-Muslims
-Muslims should have less rights than non-Muslims
-In a non-Muslim country, Muslims should have less rights than non-Muslims
-Muslims and non-Muslims should have equal rights
-I am a Muslim; Muslims said that they should have more rights than non-Muslims 53% of the time and equal rights 35% of the time.
-I am not a Muslim; Non Muslims answered that everyone should be equal 93% of the time!
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The next was; "Should men and women have equal rights?"
-Men should have more rights than women
-Women should have more rights than men
-Men and women should have equal rights
-I am a Muslim; The men said that they should have more rights than the women 52% of the time and there should be equal rights 46% of the time!
-I am not a Muslim; Here we again find a big difference between Muslim and non-Muslim. Non-Muslim men who thought the sexes should be equal were 95% while those that said they should have more rights than the ladies scored a whopping 4%!
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Then there was the question of the Religion itself; Should Islam have dominant, equal, or inferior status to other Religions?
-MUSLIM RESPONSE
-Dominant. -60%
-Equal. -36%
-inferior or I don't know. -4%
-NON-MUSLIM RESPONSE
Dominant. -1%
Equal. -66%
Inferior or I don't know. -33%
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How about this one? Should passages that may incite violence be expunged from the Koran and other Islamic religious texts?
-MUSLIM RESPONSE
-Yes. -33%
-I don't know. -3%
-No. -64%
-NON-MUSLIM RESPONSE
-Yes. -78&
-I don't know. -7%
-No. 15%
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This one caused a lot of controversy. "Should there be a minimum age for marriage?"
-No, setting minimum age for marriage is against Sharia
-Yes, Sharia should be ignored (at least in this case)
-I am a Muslim; The Muslim men voted 61% in favour of robbing the cradle while they said no 39% of the time.
-I am not a Muslim;
-No, every culture should have its own rules. -3%
-Yes, pedophilia must not be justified by religion or tradition -97%
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Next we get into a heavy duty, no messing around question: Punishment for Apostasy (Leaving Islam)
-There is no compulsion in religion; anyone is free to leave Islam
-Apostasy should be a punishable offence
-Death sentence is the only just punishment for apostasy.
-I am a Muslim; So kids, if you're a Muslim, you can come and go 40% of the time, you need to be punished in some way or other 23% of the time, and you would be killed, you son-of-a-bitch you, 37% of the time!
-I am not a Muslim; Well, this is rather easy for the non-Muslims.
100% would give you a pass if you decided to bail!
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Now bunky, we get into sensitive territory about just how yappy ya can be without getting stepped on!
What is Freedom of Speech?
-Inoffensive speech
-Speech offensive for reasons other than specified below
-Defaming one's family & all of the above
-Defaming religion, mocking prophets & all of the above
-Inciting violence & all of the above
-Conspiring to commit violence & all of the above
-I am a Muslim; Say what you want is OK by 5%. Choose you words with care by 40%. Keep your mouth shut 55%.
-I am not a Muslim; Say what you want, 20%. Blasphemy and swearing 60% against, and inciting violence on top of everything else the final 20%!
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This one has caused a lot of trouble, just ask anyone in England; Should Muslims living in non-Muslim countries integrate into the host society?
-I am a Muslim living in North America! Yes - 50% No - 50%
-I am a Muslim living in Europe; Yes - 39% No - 61%
-I am a Muslim living in other; Yes - 50% No - 50%
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Not that it's going to happen anytime soon but here is a good question! What is the Preferred Outcome of Gaza Conflict?
-I am a Muslim
IDF should destroy Hamas, but only if civilian casualties could be avoided -30%
Israel should accept ceasefire and/or unilaterally stop all military actions -15%
Hamas should destroy IDF -20%
Hamas should destroy Israel as per its charter. -35%
I am not a Muslim
IDF should destroy Hamas, but only if civilian casualties could be avoided -85%
Israel should accept ceasefire if offered -12%
Hamas should destroy IDF -2%
Hamas should destroy Israel as per its charter -1%
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HANG ON TO YOUR HATS FOR THIS ONE BOYS AND GIRLS! Is terrorism (targeting civilians) an acceptable tactic?
-MUSLIM RESPONSE
-Terrorism (targeting civilians) is unacceptable in any way shape or form. -41%
-9/11 was justified. -24%
-THIS LAST OPTION WILL BE ADDRESSED NEAR THE END OF THE ARTICLE. -35%
-NON-MUSLIM RESPONSE
-Terrorism (targeting civilians) is unacceptable in any way shape or form. -89%
-Destroying Grand Mosque in Mecca during worship would be justified. -2%
-Mecca should be nuked and its crater filled with pig blood. -9%
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Let's get down to the Muslim male's ego! Should honorcide be classified as a hate crime?
-MUSLIM RESPONSE
Yes -38%
No: any female dishonoring her family must be disciplined. -12%
No: any female dishonoring her family must severely punished. -8%
No: any female dishonoring her family must be put to death. -12%
No: honorcide is a fiction. -30%
-NON-MUSLIM RESPONSE
Yes -87%
No: any female dishonoring her family must be disciplined. -7%
No: any female dishonoring her family must severely punished. -1%
No: any female dishonoring her family must be put to death. 1%
No: honorcide is a fiction. -3%
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This question is pretty well on every bodies mind! Should Muslim community accept responsibility for atrocities committed by Islamic terrorists?
-MUSLIM RESPONSE
True. -32%
I don't know. -4%
False. -31%
Islamic terrorism is a Zionist myth. -33%
-NON-MUSLIM RESPONSE
True. -80%
I don't know. -6%
False. -10%
Islamic terrorism is a Zionist myth. -4%
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Some of these questions might upset or frighten you, dear readers, but they are none-the-less, things that must be asked whether we like the answers or not!
We learned that Muslims feel they should have more rights than non-Muslims over half the time while we in the West have a 95 % desire for equality amongst the great religions.
The same holds true for the religion itself. Muslim men feel that Islam is, or should be, dominant and superior to other religions by a margin of about two to one while non-Muslims feel two to one that all religions should be equal.
The same holds true for the rights of women where, in a nutshell, only about half of the Muslim men voted for equality for women while fully 95% of the non-Muslim males did!
(Does this mean that they are so much stronger with their women and better able to control them than non-Muslim males, or is it that the women aren't infected with that "feminism" disease yet!!!!)
On top of this they seems to want to be much stronger personally than other religions as well since over two thirds of Muslims were against removing references to violence against others from the Quran while less than one quarter of other religious adherents felt that way!
The next question gets rather dicey but needed to be asked! On the question of child marriages is seems the pedophiles won out by a wide margin amongst Muslims. A bit of a surprise here but what the hell, every old guy would just love to have a fourteen year old bride! Wouldn't they?
Non-Muslims, meanwhile, would also like to have an intelligent conversation with their wife, because they voted 97% against child brides and only about 3% for it. (Probably about the same percentage as there are pedophiles in the West!!!!)
When we look at the question of Apostasy, Muslims are almost evenly divided between no punishment for leaving the Faith, some punishment, and being killed for it......!
While the non-Muslim can come and go as they please.
And, can you complain about it?
What about Freedom of Speech?
Eh?
Can ya?
Only one in twenty Muslims thinks that you can say what's on your mind, and the rest are evenly divided between choosing their words carefully and just keeping their mouth shut!
Two thirds of none Muslims, meanwhile, thinks you shouldn't swear and the other third are evenly divided between the extremes of saying anything ya want and being censored for your words and thoughts.
And, non-Muslims seem to have this thing about fitting in where-ever they live.
All sorts of them want to leave where they are now because things are so crappy there, but don't want to adapt and change to the customs of their new home.
They make it a point of being different, and then wonder why they face discrimination and prejudice.
This penchant for being different and difficult is the root cause of most friction between Muslim and non-Muslim.
Muslims are all over the place on the fate of Hamas since a lot of them don't particularly like Hamas, (although not as much as they dislike the Israelis,) while the Jews on the other hand are real tired of having to duck rockets and about five out of six of them want Hamas destroyed.
Now we get into some dangerous territory kids. On the question of war and terrorism and all that mean nasty stuff, we have what could be called a "situation" here!
While non-Muslims feel that Terrorism is never justified by a margin of nine to one, there is still that one in ten that feels we should just nuke the Middle-East and fulfill Biblical prophesy.
On the other side of the fence you better hang on to your bootstrap for this one bunky. Close to one half of Muslims feel terrorism is never justified, BUT, one quarter of them feel 9/11 was justified and....................!
Are ya ready?????
Just under one quarter of Muslims feel that they should.................!
NUKE NEW YORK!
And finally! The "Question of the Day," is one that will seriously affect how we get along in the future folks. When asked whether Muslims should accept responsibility for terrorist acts four out of five non-Muslim's said they should.
The Muslim's on the other hand, were pretty well evenly divided, one third on the fact that they should, one third they shouldn't and one third that it was all bullshit spread by the Jews.
And there ya have it boys and girls.
The state of the world today.
And a reminder, or disclaimer, if you prefer.
Before anyone goes and starts accusing me of hate crimes or some such nonsense just remember that I got these figures from a Muslim web-site and you can check them yourself by going H E R E .
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-Allan; Extremely beneficial and enlightening. I never would have done the research. You did it for me, and I thank you. I appreciate the time you spend writing such informative, educational posts.
Leo L.
-Allan; I enjoy reading an article and not having much to say in the way of comments other than: Well Done!
Dusty W.,
Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know......!) and is available as an E-Book H E R E ! and as a paperback H E R E !
Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://allans-perspective.blogspot.com
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