Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Are the Germans Waking Up?

From the Jerusalem Post, a survey finds:

German public opinion believes a "clash of civilizations" is under way between Christians and Muslims that will lead to further domestic and international conflict, a report commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds.

If they think it's a clash between Christians and Muslims; I hope they don't delude themselves that being non-Christian will guarantee safety. I think a better description of the conflict would be "between Muslims and non-Muslims." Some numbers:
The Allensbach survey of 1,076 German adults in early May found that 83% of the respondents associated Islam with "fanaticism," an increase of 8% from a similar poll in 2004.

Over 71% believed Islam to be "intolerant," a rise from 66% in 2004; 62% saw it as "backward," up from 49%; while 60% saw it as "undemocratic," an increase of 8% since 2004. Only 8% of the survey participants characterized Islam as peaceful.
When asked what keyword or phrase they associated with Islam, 91% of respondents stated that Islam implied discrimination against women.

Some 61% of Germans said they believed a "clash of cultures" already existed, while 65% said "they counted on such conflicts" to worsen in the future.

While two-thirds of the survey participants said they blamed religious fanatics, not Islam, for the conflict with the West, 40% of the participants said they would favor curtailing Germany's constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of religion in order to safeguard national security.

And here's a question, will an increasing threat from radical Islam make it harder to maintain an atmosphere of anti-Americanism? Could it be that Germany will be friendlier towards America -- like in the old days when they were constantly looking East to be sure those Soviet tanks weren't rolling yet?

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