The Great Divide

The Telegraph reports on a survey of British Muslims. It attempts to give a picture of their reactions to the London bombings and their attitudes as British citizens in general.

With the caveat that I put very little faith in the reliability of surveys, for what it's worth, I think the findings are disturbing.

The vast majority of British Muslims condemn the London bombings but a substantial minority are clearly alienated from modern British society and some are prepared to justify terrorist acts.

...Most Muslims are evidently moderate and law-abiding but by no means all are.

...88 per cent of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders.

However, six per cent insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified.

Six per cent may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do.

Moreover, the proportion of YouGov's respondents who, while not condoning the London attacks, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who carried them out is considerably larger - 24 per cent.

A substantial majority, 56 per cent, say that, whether or not they sympathise with the bombers, they can at least understand why some people might want to behave in this way.

It's certainly reassuring to hear that 88% won't justify the attacks. That's the good news.

The bad news is that 56% can understand why the terrorists would commit such heinous acts.

So, the overwhelming majority would be unable to personally justify the bombings, but most British Muslims can relate to the thinking that motivated the terrorists.

Fifty-six percent understand why someone would want to bomb subway trains and buses!

Something is wrong there. A community that understands why someone would target innocent civilians for death is seriously and dangerously morally deficient.

...YouGov also asked whether or not its Muslim respondents agreed or disagreed with Tony Blair's description of the ideas and ideology of the London bombers as "perverted and poisonous".

Again, while a large majority, 58 per cent, agree with him, a substantial minority, 26 per cent, are reluctant to be so dismissive.

The responses indicate that Muslim men are more likely than Muslim women to be alienated from the mainstream and that the young are more likely to be similarly alienated than the old.

Young Muslim men are the ones more likely to harbor the type of anti-social sentiments that breed terrorism. It makes sense for authorities to be more watchful of this demographic, doesn't it?

It's not bigoted to do so. It's acknowledging reality.

The sheer scale of Muslim alienation from British society that the survey reveals is remarkable. Although a large majority of British Muslims are more than content to make their home in this country, a significant minority are not.

For example, YouGov asked respondents how loyal they feel towards Britain. As the figures in the chart show, the great majority say they feel "very loyal" (46 per cent) or "fairly loyal" (33 per cent) but nearly one British Muslim in five, 18 per cent, feels little loyalty towards this country or none at all.

My questions:

Why do the 18% that feel little or no loyalty to Britain live there?

If they are so alienated, why do they stay?

Why don't they move to a place where they'd feel more content?

If they are so troubled by Western culture, they should consider relocating, rather than trying to undermine it.

It makes me wonder what percentage of Muslims in America have little or no loyalty for the country.

Taken as a whole, the findings of YouGov's survey suggest that, although large numbers of British Muslims dislike British society and in some cases may be tempted to attack it, the great majority are loyal and law-abiding and are unlikely to provide the radicals with moral support, let alone safe havens.

Again, the numbers in this survey are highly suspect. If you were someone who was considering carrying out a terrorist attack, would you admit to having negative feelings about your country?

It's possible that there are far more alienated and violence prone Muslims than the survey indicates.

Whatever the actual numbers may be, the British Muslim community is divided in terms of their attitudes toward terrorism and their country.

It's unfortunate that the law-abiding and loyal British Muslims are likely to suffer because a few in their community consider blowing up innocent people to be a noble thing.