More than half of Americans believe Islam is “at odds” with their values, marking a downturn in Americans’ perceptions of the faith in recent years, according to a Public Religion Research Institute survey released Tuesday.
Fifty-six percent of respondents to PPRI’s annual “American Values Survey” said that the values of Islam fundamentally clash with those of the United States while 41 percent disagreed. Respondents’ opinions were more evenly split as recently as 2011, with 47 percent agreeing on the clash in ideology and 48 percent disagreeing.
The survey found Americans’ perceptions of Islam are influenced by race, religion and political identity as well. More white Americans are likely to believe that Islam is at odds with their values than black or Hispanic Americans at 61 percent to 48 and 46 percent, respectively. In addition, an overwhelming 73 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 63 percent of white mainline Protestants hold that Islam is fundamentally at odds with the American “way of life.” Only 37 percent of non-Christian religious groups (including Jews, Hindus, Muslims and other world religions) agreed, the survey found.
As for political leanings, conservatives are much more likely to hold negative opinions of Islam. Seventy-six percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents said the religion is at odds with American values, while only 43 percent of Democrats concurred.
The PPRI survey was conducted from Sept. 11-Oct. 4. Researchers contacted 2,695 adults in all 50 states online and by telephone, in both Spanish and English. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
I’m thinking this is indicative of the Christian Institutions contradicting what the Bible teaches ironically in the same way radical Islam contradicts the Koran. Go figure…
Actually, devout and “traditional” Jewish and Christian beliefs are at odds with contemporary American values.
Safety and economic opportunity aside, I don’t understand why devout Muslims would want to live in our democratic, open, highly sexualized, sports obsessed, drug using, pop culture fixated society as Islam is very much at odds with what America is today.
One the one hand I do not think that Islam believes in the Separation of Church and State, on the other the GOP?
Ah, you’ve obviously never read the Bible NOR the Koran. The Westboro Baptist Church and Ken Ham have a better understanding of the Bible than most Christians. If you think that the Bible is full of some hippy bullshit about being kind to one another, and love and all that shit, you DEFINITELY HAVEN’T READ IT!!!
Same with the Koran. Read that shit.
Seriously. Read that shit. The entire thing is about how fucked up the Jews and Christians are.
During the Paris attacks last week, some Muslim tweeted this passage about how the Koran says, “If you kill one person, it is as if you have killed all of humanity.” Trying to show that the Koran is about loving one another and shit. And it sounds nice, doesn’t it? Very anti-violenc-y, right?
In context: Koran 5:32: “Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.”
So in context it’s: We told those dirty Hebrews that killing was bad (unless the fucker had it coming, of course) but those evil bastards do it anyway.
Later on in that same passage, it says Koran 5:51: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”
And it goes on and on and on.
Seriously. Read that shit.
Read the Bible too. Not just the parts the preacher picks out to prove some point. Put that shit in context.
Both just horrible, horrible books. (I mean, from a moral standpoint, of course. In terms of just literature: excellent.)
Also seems like that what you hear in the news is about Islamic groups doing is all bad vs christian groups only doing good.
You hear all the time about christian soup kitchens, homeless shelters, charity fund raisers for the needy etc. Only thing you hear about muslims doing is terrorist attacks, most of which occur outside the US.