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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| 64 percent of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan support the death penalty for leaving Islam |
| 2013-05-02 |
| The Pew Research Center's vast new study on the views and attitudes of global Muslim populations was bound to create controversy. Like the U.S. public knowledge polls that find that one-third of Americans can't name the vice president, Pew's report includes some less-than-flattering pieces of data. And while it's important not to generalize about entire populations or demographic groups based on one study, some of these numbers are difficult to ignore. According to Pew's data, 78 percent of Afghan Muslims say they support laws condemning to death anyone who gives up Islam. In both Egypt and Pakistan, 64 percent report holding this view. This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. It's also important to note that majorities of Muslims in the countries surveyed, sometimes vast majorities, said they support religious freedom. That includes, for example, more than 75 percent of Egyptians and more than 95 percent of Pakistanis. It might seem like a glaring contradiction. And it is a contradiction, but it might make a little more sense that so many people could hold seemingly mutually exclusive views -- religious freedom is good, but anyone who leaves Islam should be executed -- if one understands the particular history of apostasy in Islam. Doublethink. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #3 What an insecure and immature religion. |
| Posted by: Voldemort Sneremp9970 2013-05-02 14:45 |
| #2 64% of Pakistanis support death penalty for apostasy from Islam 95% of Pakistanis support religious freedom. Shouldn't the headline be opinions of Muslims full of contradictions. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-05-02 11:16 |
| #1 An astonishing coincidence. I had recently arrived at the 64 percentile point for a potentially similar demise for devout Muslims. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-05-02 11:05 |