Poll: 26% Of Young U.S. Muslims OK Bombs
But Poll Also Shows Majority Of Muslims In U.S. Fit Comfortably, Reject Rise Of Extremism
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The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of U.S. Muslims, revealed a community that in many ways blends comfortably into society. Its largely mainstream members express nearly as much happiness with their lives and communities as the general public does, show a broad willingness to adopt American customs, and have income and education levels similar to others in the U.S.
Even so, the survey revealed noteworthy pockets of discontent.
While nearly 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings of civilians to defend Islam cannot be justified, 13 percent say they can be, at least rarely.
That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them say it can often be justified, 13 percent say sometimes and 11 percent say rarely.
"It is a hair-raising number," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy.
He said most supporters of the attacks likely assumed the context was a fight against occupation — a term Muslims often use to describe the conflict with Israel.
U.S. Muslims have growing Internet and television access to extreme ideologies, he said, adding: "People, especially younger people, are susceptible to these ideas."
Federal officials have warned that the U.S. must be on guard against homegrown terrorism, as the British suffered with the London transit bombings of 2005.
Even so, U.S. Muslims are far less accepting of suicide attacks than Muslims in many other nations. In surveys Pew conducted last year, support in some Muslim countries exceeded 50 percent, while it was considered justifiable by about one in four Muslims in Britain and Spain, and one in three in France.
"We have crazies just like other faiths have them," said Eide Alawan, who directs interfaith outreach at the Islamic Center of America, one of the largest mosques in the U.S. He said killing innocent people contradicts Islam.
Andrew Kohut, Pew director, called support for the attacks "one of the few trouble spots" in the survey.
The question did not specify where a suicide attack might occur, who might carry it out or what was meant by using a bombing to "defend Islam."
The survey estimates there are roughly 2.35 million Muslim Americans.
In other findings:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 245 Comments"Only 5 percent of U.S. Muslims expressed favorable views of the terrorist group al Qaeda, though about a fourth did not express an opinion."
This is f**king great......ONLY 5%. Let's see...there over a million fu*king muslims in the US. 5% of a million is 50,000. How many did it take to pull off 9/11???? 13?????
You folks better wake up!
Can't wait to play some 'tunes' for my muslim friends.
Posted by mike71067 at 01:08 PM : May 22, 2007
It's already here. When the baloon goes up, whose side do you think they will be on? It will be just like Iraq - except over here. Your neighbor, who invites you over for a cous-cous sandwich, will be hiding terrorists in his basement.
Look and the *** Dr. down in FL. They are among us - in all walks of life.
Posted by king77shaw at 01:15 PM : May 22, 2007
Yeah, I can see you'd be one of the first to inherit his 72 virgins. It could be 100%.....I can assure you that, in the US, 100% of them will die! At least, 100% of the ones man enough to stand up and die like men.....not like the two dressed in women's clothes that they caught last week in Iraq. Losers.
Keep in mind too that this poll was taken of Muslims WILLING to talk to a pollster, and therefore more likely to be more moderate in their views than some bitter Muslim living here who doesn't want anything to do with Infidels and their arrogant questions.
The REAL statistics would probably be more frightening than one could imagine.
...
Are you proposing that if they had leaders (which they do) that they would not condone hatred and killing of non-muslims?
Not possible...for a true "islam" leader to stray away from that, since its intrinsic and law in their religion to kill and torture those who refuse to be islamic.
Other posters are correct...its not a religion in the sense most of us Americans think of religion...its a cult...I just wish they'd start drinking the kook-aid.
My gun is loaded and ready. If the government does not protect us from these maniacal zealots we will take matters int our own hands.
Death to Islam.
Death to all Muslims!!
Their commitment to Allah trumps their freedom (both physical and mental). They want you to sacrifice your freedom for Allah too. Nice neighbor, huh?
40 million Mexicans going back across the border each with a Muslim under his or her arm.
Islamists blow themselves up, and others with them, several times a day. It's part of their doctrine. Big difference.
This poll is nothing but red meat for those who already hate anyone who is not like them- especially muslims.
What a bunch of cr*p.
Posted by DefndLiberty at 01:41 PM : May 22, 2007
AMEN!!
do not think of themselves as Americans. Also close the mosques and schools. That's it.
Who were these idiot murderers "defending" when they flew planes into the trade center. I hope your family is blown up by one of these radicals, so you to might be awakened to the true threat of these extremists.
There are no moderate muslims. They will continue to fight like cowards until we give them the country.
Death to Islam!
Death to ALL Muslims!
www.911revisited.com
if 9/11 is continually invoked as the reason for this global madness, then Americans should demand answers to the following questions:
1) why did WTC7 fall ? WTC lease holder Larry Silverstein admitted to having the building "pulled" (slang for demolished) - only problem is that it takes weeks at best to prepare a building for demolition .. why did the 9/11 commission fail to even mention the collapse of WTC7 - why isn%u2019t it shown on TV? OBVIOUS DEMOLITION.
2) how could the twin towers fall at free fall speeds if we are to believe the "pancake" theory ? The buildings fell in 9 seconds! If floors were collapsing into the ones below them there would be slight delay before the lower floor gives ... if it were a half a second at each floor that would still be nearly 50 seconds ... huge steel beams were being ejected hundreds of feet HORIZONTALLY - concrete was pulverized into fine dust - SQUIBS (well-placed charges) are exploding outward up to 20 floors below the collapse wave %u2026 all characteristics of a controlled demolition not collapse.
3) kerosene (jet fuel) does not burn hot enough to melt the steel they used in the Twin Towers. period - watch the footage - these were oxygen starved fires - lots of smoke and minimal flames. Most of the fuel was burned off at impact. NO WAY were those fires hot enough to bring down a steel frame building.
DefndLiberty,
In your lifetime, how many people have been killed by "fundamentalist Christians" defending the unborn? I can only think of one doctor about 20 years ago.
During the same time frame, how many people have been killed by "fundamentalist Muslims" in the name of Allah?
Posted by lestb35 at 12:44 PM : May 22, 2007
The early Christians celebrated being killed by the government (Rome) because of their faith. Many went out of their way to die in the arenas or to be crucified, to be "Martyred" I see no difference between that and this. Besides ALL religions are cults when they start out and as far as I'm concerned they all still are. They're the single worst thing that has ever plagued mankind, the lot of them.
Posted by bizzzz at 01:33 PM : May 22, 2007
Yep. And while you're all bending over kissing oue islamic a**es, how about building us a foot washing station at the KC airport.
I'd have given them a garden hose at the gas station and told them all to shut their d*amn mouths!
They should be killed with all the Muslims.
74% of Muslims then, said that it is never OK to bomb in defense of Islam, ever. Would 74% of Christians say that? I'm not so sure.
Posted by SusanHelit at 01:57 PM : May 22, 2007
Once again we agree. I think if you polled most religious people and asked if their religion was worth dying for you'd get at least as big of a number as the Muslims, esp among Christians. After all Christians have a long long history of killing to spread the faith, so dying to spread it is no big leap.
First - there's one major difference you may have overlooked... namely, a couple thousand years. Second, there's a big difference between being killed by a gov't because of what you believe in or what you preach, which btw Islamic gov'ts LOVE to do (see Taliban) and going around killing civilians, women, children in the name of your God... People don't always live up to what their religion says they should do - but if you're comparing religions here, I'd say 'turn the other cheek' is in stark contrast to 'death to the infidels'....
That's roughly 117,500 people who think al Qaeda is ok. It took 13 to attack us on 9/11. Not a far leap from thinking they're ok to taking on the cause. You folks better wake up!
This is truly disturbing considering they are U.S. MUSLIMS. Everyone in America defends their religion in one form or other but not with bombs! We defend our country with military weapons. TOTALLY DISTURBING !!!!! THESE PEOPLE NEED HELP !!!
Posted by mike71067 at 01:45 PM : May 22, 2007
Hey @sshole, I live in Kentucky and we have never had that happen here. Take your sterotypes somewhere else. The people here are some of the kindest you will ever meet, but call them something they are not and they will put a slug in your head!
Posted by muslim2k8 at 02:02 PM : May 22, 2007
And teenage girls in Iraq who happen to like boys outside of the sunni sect. Male members of her family stoned her to death two weeks ago.
That's what turned me against the war. Muslims don't deserve freedom or any form of democracy. The only language they understand is violence and I am more than happy to oblidge them!
Ancient middle-eastern fairytales are destroying the human race.
You must not have gotten TV in the 8x12 shack you lived in while the whole 9-11 situation was unfolding.
1) the WTC fell because excess heat melted the floor joists which were designed to hold the sides in place. The energy released by the collapse would be extreme, basically undoing the energy expense to build the structure and furnish them. This was NOT a controlled Demo in ANY sense of the word. 7 WTC fell after the fact, it is a moot point that it wasn't addressed by the 911 commission.
2) the buildings did not collapse in 9 seconds - the fatality rate would have been higher if people only had 9 seconds to get away. You were obviously not there when the events actually unfolded
3) the fire ignited other items within the building. You obviously missed all the paper that was flying around...guess what? paper burns.
Sorry people, I know this person is too "misguided" to warrent a reply and his questions are only meant to gain much-needed validation. However, it is a free country and even idiots have the right to be stupid.
Right. And "defending their religion" includes drawing a cartoon character of Muhammed.
Muslims, do not wonder why you are the target of racial profiling!
POWER TO THE INFIDELS!
Death to ALL Muslims.
Posted by dogsoul at 02:03 PM : May 22, 2007
I disagree. 2000 years makes no difference as the poster I was replying to said it ws a sign of a cult and I was stating what I was to show that all religions start out as cults, including Christianity. Many early Christians went out of their way to be martyred. They did, in effect, commit suicide for their religion. Also Christians have a long history of killing other men, women and children in the name of their god too. All I'm saying is those who live in glass churches shouldn't throw bombs.
I haven't heard such a lot of racist, bigoted garbage in a long time. I'm sorry you are all such hateful people. I pray you learn to be more tolerant and understand what motivates the actions of other human beings. Hate breeds hate. There is obviously a great deal of hate among Christians and Muslims. Trying to establish unimperically who likes to kill innocent people more isn't going to get us anywhere.
Blessed are the peace makers.
Socrates392
Do you know what will happen if we send all the muslims on one big island with no way of going back and come there one year later? answer: all of them will be dead because they will kill each other (+suicide) because that is the way of Islam. SAD.........But that is the reality of this "religion"
Eide Alawan, Islamic Center of America
Truer words have never been spoken. All religions have their nuts. Every last one of them. Not every religious person is crazy, but I'd bet that most crazy people follow one religion or another.
First off you are an idiot. Don't try to pass yourself off as some enlightened guru. It only makes you appear stupider than you probably are.
It is not bigotry or hatred you moron. The only hattred if from the primitive Muslims. I will teach you something. Read carefully.
When someone wants to kill you, YOU KILL THEM FIRST. You do not have to hate them. In fact love them. Love them with every bullet you put in their turban.
I do. Anyone else? When the war starts here, I will kill a lot of them. If your government is not protecting you, you must take matters into your own hands.
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