07 May 2009

What the Gallup poll on Muslims really tells us is that there's no link between religion and feeling alienated from society

The takeaway line from the Gallup poll on Muslims and integration in western Europe is very simple: there is no correlation between religious observance and feeling alienated from the society around you; but this is what the society around Muslims believes.

The figures that Gallup has produced are quite startling, and apply both to beliefs and symbols. In England, Germany and France, the three countries surveyed, Muslims are twice as likely as the general public to suppose that Muslims are loyal citizens.

In Germany and the UK, they have higher confidence in the police and the judiciary than the general public (in France, where they are also over-represented in the prison system, they also mistrust the authorities more). [Guardian CiF] Read more See Also: [Guardian CiF] Read more