Pew Study Reveals US Muslim Community is Mainstream

As most people in the U.S. are not personally acquainted with American Muslims, most of us turn to other sources for our information on the Muslim community. Recently there have been two surveys that give us a glimpse into this often misunderstood community. A Pew survey of the American Muslim community was released in May and showed that American Muslims are largely satisfied with their lives in the U.S., are well integrated into the society, economically empowered and very American in their attitudes. A University of Maryland survey (December 2006) revealed American attitudes on some of the same topics. A comparison of the two reveals some unexpected facts.

The Associated Press released an article on June 7, 2007 which discussed the results of a Pew survey entitled “Young U.S. Muslims Face Mistrust”. On June 8, the Cincinnati Enquirer picked up this AP article and re-titled it “Many young U.S. Muslims say suicide bombs can be justified.” While it is true that a question included in the Pew survey about the acceptability of suicide bombings did elicit responses from a small number (8%) who felt that it is “often” or “sometimes” justified, by comparison a recent University of Maryland survey reveals that 24% of Americans think that “bombings and other types of attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “often or sometimes justified.” At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Pew study reveals that fully 78% of American Muslims think this kind of barbarity is never justified. Only 46% of Americans in the University of Maryland study said targeting civilians is never justified.

So the real question is why would newspapers around the country slant their representation of the poll results? Could it be because those in the media reporting on this issue know so little about the facts of the subject? Or could it be because the American public has very little accurate information on the American Muslim community readily available to them and so must accept whatever is fed to them? In either case the media takes advantage of this lack of knowledge to sensationalize the headlines and sell their product. The old adage “if it bleeds, it leads” comes to mind.

Unfortunately, this particular headline does more than tell us about the latest interstate pile-up or neighborhood murder. Sensationalistic headlines like this have a real and negative impact on the American Muslim community that is already suffering under a dark cloud of suspicion and hate. Incidents of discrimination, bias and hate crimes against Muslims continue to rise every year. We saw the effects of this locally when a Cincinnati area mosque was bombed in 2005.

Regardless of how media outlets might choose to spin this information the recent Pew survey shows us, when viewed in its entirety, an American Muslim community that is mainstream, moderate and believes in the American dream. This is what American Muslims have been saying all along.