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Negative view of Islam rising in U.S.
 Out of five Americans only one has a favourable impression of Islam, revealed a recent poll. The poll conducted by the US television network, CBS, found that 45 percent of respondents queried April 6-9 said they have an unfavourable view of Islam, a rise from 36 percent in February. The publics impression of Islam has diminished even more compared with four years ago. In February 2002 - less than six months after the terrorist attacks of September 11 - the country was evenly divided in its impression of Islam. The new poll showed that only 19 percent had a favourable view of Islam, compared to 30 percent in 2002. While 33 percent had an unfavourable view of Islam in 2002, the percentage has now risen to 45. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they havent heard enough or dont know enough to say either way. The poll finds 46 percent of Americans believe Islam encourages violence more than other religions, compared with 39 percent of Americans who felt that way two months ago and 35 percent who felt that way in March 2002 (according to a Gallup Poll). When compared with some other religions practised in America, positive views of Islam rank below those for mainstream Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, and Christian fundamentalist faiths. Only Scientology, of all the religions asked about, ranked lower. As for other faiths, 58 percent had a favourable impression of Protestantism, 48 percent of Catholicism, 47 percent of the Jewish religion, 31 percent of Christian fundamentalist religions, 20 percent of the Mormon religion, 19 percent of Islam, and eight percent of Scientology. Posted by: Fred 2006-04-15 |
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