Wednesday, August 03, 2011

New Gallup Poll: Christians More Willing to Use Attacks on Civilians Than Muslims

The Christianist work over time to depict Islam as a religion of hate and violence yet a new Gallup survey reveals that Muslims are less likely to support violence against and the murder of civilians than - you guessed it - Christians. Atheists and Agnostics also rate higher than Christians in their disapproval of the targeting and killing of civilians. Thus, it seems that when the professional Christians and Christianist demagogues are railing against Muslims, they must be attributing to Muslims their own moral bankruptcy. The charts below look at two difference scenarios concerning attacks on and the murder of civilians. When it comes to military attacks against civilians, Muslims are twice as likely as Protestant Christians to say such attacks are never justified. Here are highlights from the Gallup findings:

Muslim Americans are the staunchest opponents of military attacks on civilians, compared with members of other major religious groups Gallup has studied in the United States. Seventy-eight percent of Muslim Americans say military attacks on civilians are never justified.

A similar revulsion of attacks on civilians by small terror groups likewise showed Muslims to be the most likely to say such are never justified, although on this question, Christians narrowed the morality gap even though they still scored more poorly than atheists and agnostics:


There is wider agreement that attacks on civilians by individuals or small groups are never justified. At least 7 in 10 American adults from all major religious groups agree that these attacks are never justified, but Muslim Americans again are most opposed, with 89% rejecting such attacks.

One explanation for the findings in my view is the sad fact that I believe that many Christians continue to see non-Christians as less than fully human. Thus, violence against them by the military is acceptable. It's sick and disgusting, but I suspect it is the unspoken factor.

No comments: