Germans negative on Islam, poll shows

[phk]

Germans negative on Islam, poll shows

BERLIN - Germans are growing increasingly negative over Islam and concern is rising over the country's Muslim minority, a recently released poll shows.

"If one looks at this from a pessimistic viewpoint it could be seen as the start of a downward spiral toward conflict," said the Allensbach polling agency who conducted the survey for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.

Asked if they though Christianity and Islamic could co-exist peacefully, 61 per cent of those surveyed said they believed there would always be "major conflicts" between both faiths.

Some 91 per cent said they associated Islam with oppression of women, up from 85 per cent in 2004.

The statement that Islam was dominated by fanaticism was shared by 83 per cent, compared to 75 per cent two years ago, the poll showed.

A total of 71 per cent said Islam was intolerant, up from 66 per cent in 2004.

Asked if there should be a ban on the building of mosques in Germany as long as the building of churches in some Islamic states is forbidden, 56 per cent agreed, said the poll.

There is even considerable backing for ending Germany's constitutional right of freedom of religion with regard to Islam, the poll showed.

Asked if strict limits should be imposed on the practice of Islam in Germany to protect the country, 40 per cent said they would support such moves.

A total of 56 per cent said they believed "a clash of civilizations" had already begun, up from 46 per cent in 2004, the poll results showed.

"The clash of civilizations has already begun in the minds of (German) citizens," concluded the Allensbach Institute.

There are about 3.5 million Muslims living in Germany out of a total population of 82 million. Turks are the biggest minority and number about 2.5 million.

DPA

[Franzl]

so much for European tolerance (not that this number would be much lower in the U.S.)

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Ouch. It seems like people want to ban everything in Germany nowadays.

[The Mikado]

Asked if they though Christianity and Islamic could co-exist peacefully, 61 per cent of those surveyed said they believed there would always be "major conflicts" between both faiths.

Sort of an asinine question.  There will always be conflicts between Islamic groups and Christian groups, but does that mean there is conflict between Islam and Christianity themselves?

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Depressing.  Regardless what Ayaan Hirsi Ali says, Islam is not incompatible with women's rights.  Many countries in which Islam is the predominant religion can be associated with oppression of women, but just being a Muslim man doesn't turn you into a wife-beating polygamist.

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Why would that number be going up?

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This is depressing.

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!!!  WTF?  Really?  That's stunning!

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  Germany, come on!  What's happened to you?  You've always (well, almost always...) been such a diverse cross-section of peoples and cultures and ways of life.  You used to be cool.  What happened?  You've changed, man.

Seriously, though, WTF?

[dead0man]

Asked if they though Christianity and Islamic could co-exist peacefully, 61 per cent of those surveyed said they believed there would always be "major conflicts" between both faiths.

They are correct.

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Again, they are correct.  The followers of Islam often do oppress women.  The full body wrap might not be as oppresive as say, stoning them for getting raped, but its still oppresive.

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I don't know if its dominated by it, but there seems to be an awfull lot of it.

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It's followers often are intolerant.

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But that's just stupid, you can't punish all followers of the faith because of the actions of some.

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I'm against this as well. 

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Because it has already begun.  Theo Van Goh murder, Mohammed cartoons, Cologne Mosque, etc.



I'm not sure how I'd feel if I actually lived there though.

[Keystone Phil]

I'm just relieved that Germans don't have a history of hating/scapegoating certain religious groups.

[Lunar]

I'm also relieved this xenophobic attitude in Germany is isolated to just Germany and isn't widespread


also, isn't this a leading question indicative of a bad pollster?

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[Keystone Phil]

I'm also relieved this xenophobic attitude in Germany is isolated to just Germany and isn't widespread

I obviously wasn't saying it was restricted to Germany, for the record.