AMERICANS LESS COMFORTABLE WITH ISLAM: According to this ABC News poll, Americans remained sympathetic to Islam after the 9/11 attacks, but have grown steadily more uncomfortable with it over time:
The percentage of Americans having an unfavorable view of Islam has jumped from 24 percent in January 2002 to 33 percent now.
The portion of Americans who say that Islam “doesn’t teach respect for other faiths” rose from 22 percent to 35 percent.
The article treats this mostly as a failure of tolerance, but at the end it presents this alternative explanation:
Muslim leaders maintained that Osama bin Laden was an aberration, a single twisted soul distorting Islam. But the reality is something more disturbing — that Islam is now being used as a justification for violence — not by a few, but by many. Though many Muslim leaders criticized the terrorists, few stated that the problems with Islam’s misuse were dangerously widespread. As a result, Muslim leaders may have lost some of their credibility. . . .
American University professor Akbar Ahmed admitted as much: “For the first time in history, Muslim civilization is on a direct collision course with all the world religions.”
Ahmed said that at this point, he is aggravated that many Muslims won’t acknowledge this. “After Sept. 11, there was this mantra, ‘We are peaceful, we are peaceful.’ After Muslims killed 3,000 people, it makes no sense to me.”
Yes, Muslims who are unsympathetic to the views of the Islamofascists need to get out front on this issue.
UPDATE: This post by Damian Penny is worth reading.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Steve at HappyFunPundit wonders why this article is so dumb, attributing most of the change in attitude to people like Jerry Falwell instead of to Islamic terrorists. Personally, I think the glass is half full. What impresses me is that the story at least entertains the possibility that Islamic terror might have something to do with American attitudes.
It’s all a function of how high your expectations are, I guess. Mine aren’t very high, so I’m easily pleased.