Trevor Phillips’ report (it’s behind a paywall but there’s some commentary here) on a new survey of British Muslim opinion may prompt the response ‘I told you so’ from Islam’s fiercest critics and Islamists alike.
It suggests that Islam is qualitatively different from other religions, and Muslims correspondingly different from other immigrant/minority communities. Phillips cautions that wishful thinking has led people to assume that Muslims are – or soon will be – indistinguishable, a few details aside, from the non-Muslim majority. The reality, he argues, is that this isn’t going to happen.
"The data collected by the respected research firm ICM shows what the polling experts call “a chasm” opening between Muslims and non-Muslims on such fundamentals as marriage, relations between men and women, schooling, freedom of expression and even the validity of violence in defence of religion.
And the chasm isn’t going to disappear any time soon; indeed, the gaps between Muslim and non-Muslim youngsters are nearly as large as those between their elders." [Harry’s Place] Read more
