How well does the word “violent” describe Muslims? Despite anti-Muslim rhetoric flying around in modern politics, Islam is actually no more violent than any other religion. Historically, Islam and Christianity are pretty much on par for people killed in the name of God. Yet, in recent years, there has been a spike in hate crimes against Muslims, despite lack of evidence that Muslims are more likely to carry out attacks than Christians or Jews. So, why is there so much stigma surrounding one of the largest religions in the world?
First, let’s see how the world looks at Islam and Muslims. Westerners actually hold rather mixed views of Muslims. A report from Pew Research showed that a median of 50% of people in countries like the U.S. and Russia referred to Muslims as violent. Westerners were more likely to call Muslims fanatical. In another survey published by Pew Research, American respondents were asked to rate their feelings toward various religions on a thermometer, with a score of 0 being the lowest, “coolest” score and 100 being the highest, “warmest” score. …show more content…
In the United States, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than be killed in a terror attack. Even lower are the chances of being killed by an Islamic terrorist. If Muslims were statistically more violent, places with higher numbers of Muslims would be more likely to experience violence, right? That’d make sense, so let’s look at a place whose population is 25% Muslim: Cyprus. If Muslims are statistically more violent, surely, we would see at least some instances of violence or terror attacks, but we don’t. This isn’t to say that there aren’t violent Muslims. Recent attacks committed by Muslims in places like Berlin and Paris show Muslims can be violent. However, trends in violence among Muslims, especially in the Middle East, may be traced to political strife over the religion itself. Even terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida and ISIS were born out of political
First, let’s see how the world looks at Islam and Muslims. Westerners actually hold rather mixed views of Muslims. A report from Pew Research showed that a median of 50% of people in countries like the U.S. and Russia referred to Muslims as violent. Westerners were more likely to call Muslims fanatical. In another survey published by Pew Research, American respondents were asked to rate their feelings toward various religions on a thermometer, with a score of 0 being the lowest, “coolest” score and 100 being the highest, “warmest” score. …show more content…
In the United States, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than be killed in a terror attack. Even lower are the chances of being killed by an Islamic terrorist. If Muslims were statistically more violent, places with higher numbers of Muslims would be more likely to experience violence, right? That’d make sense, so let’s look at a place whose population is 25% Muslim: Cyprus. If Muslims are statistically more violent, surely, we would see at least some instances of violence or terror attacks, but we don’t. This isn’t to say that there aren’t violent Muslims. Recent attacks committed by Muslims in places like Berlin and Paris show Muslims can be violent. However, trends in violence among Muslims, especially in the Middle East, may be traced to political strife over the religion itself. Even terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida and ISIS were born out of political