-Is an ‘Unfavorable View’ of Islam Caused by Ignorance?
by Dr. D ~ January 26th, 2010
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Last Thursday Gallup released the results of a recent ‘World Religion Survey’ showing that 53% of Americans had at the very least a ‘not too favorable’ view of Islam.
In a separate question American were asked to express how much prejudice they had against 4 major world religions- Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. 43% of Americans said that they had at least ‘a little’ prejudice against Muslims. Far higher than the other three religions in the survey.
Nearly every article that I read claimed that the major problem was American ignorance of Islam. Several articles pointed out that at least 63% of the country knew ‘only a little’ or ‘nothing at all’ about the Muslim religion.
In my experience, ignorance is not necessarily the cause of an unfavorable view of Islam. Also, greater knowledge doesn’t necessarily bring with it a better view. Actually it could result in an even worse opinion.
I will say this—when all I knew was only a little bit about Islam my view of the religion was far more positive. No, an ‘unfavorable view of Islam’ can also be the result of knowing too much. <<Read the whole article on the AFTF main page>> *Top