Muslim support for suicide attacks down sharply

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Popular support for suicide bombings has dropped sharply across the Muslim world in what could suggest a rejection of Islamist militant tactics among Muslims, a global survey released on Tuesday said.

The 2007 Pew Global Attitudes survey, based on polling data from 47 countries, also showed waning confidence in al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden among Muslims but said the United States is viewed as the biggest threat by a majority of people in Muslim countries.

"The marked decline in the acceptance of suicide bombing is one of several findings that suggest a possible broader rejection of extremist tactics among many in the Muslim world," the Washington-based Pew Research Center said in a report that accompanied the data.

Nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Pew found dwindling support for suicide bombings in seven of eight Muslim countries since 2002.

In Lebanon, which is experiencing its worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war, the number of Muslims who say suicide attacks are often or sometimes justified fell from 74 percent to 34 percent.

In Pakistan, which has also seen a rise in violence this year, support for suicide bombings dropped to 9 percent from 33 percent in 2002.

"The pattern is equally stark among Muslims in Bangladesh and Indonesia, where support for suicide bombing as a tactic in defense of Islam is down by at least half," Pew said.

But support for suicide attacks remained at a high 70 percent among Palestinians.
Muslim support for suicide attacks down sharply | World | Reuters


Encouraging...........

Have a good one!:s4:

lol sorta...

btw i love how the article ends with "The survey, based on country data with error margins of 3-to-4 percent, suggested a happier world in general"

it kinda confuses me to be honest

Although the majority of the world apparently disaproves of suicide bombing/ extreme violence according to the poll... the rising tension and escalating violence occuring around the world would seem to imply that the world would be getting less happy not more happy...

i guess we just dont know what we want...

Islam is a peaceful religion, extremists should not represent the majority of muslims worldwide. However, the media portrays this sometimes.