SOURCE:
USA TODAYURL:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/07/15/nice-attack-terror-islam-muslim-radical-lone-wolf-column/86670606/
The World Trade Center, Madrid, London, Mumbai, Fort Hood, Baghdad, Benghazi, Boston, Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, Orlando and possibly now Nice, France.
Islam gets a bad rap, some say, following terrorist attacks these days. After all, “the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people.” I, for one, am glad that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people, especially since there are 1.6 billion followers of Islam in the world.
While we do not yet know the full motives of the Tunisian-born attacker in Nice, French authorities are treating the case as yet another in a string of Jihadist-inspired terror attacks. After Thursday's events, how much comfort should we really take in knowing that the majority (of any group) is peaceful? What does that mean for the rest of the world’s second-largest religion, and how many fall into the minority group who may have different views?
As of 2011 there were 1.8 million Muslim adults (and 2.75 million Muslims of all ages) living in the United States. The Pew Research Center reiterated in December some little-discussed, but chilling, findings about these adherents to Islam.
Pew asked Muslims in the U.S. under what circumstances “suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians is justified to defend Islam." Thankfully, Pew reported, Muslims mostly (86%) say such behavior is “rarely or never” justified. Whew! That means about 1.6 million Muslim adults living here say they don't approve of violence in the name of their religion. But what about the rest? What do they believe about justifiable violence?
Seven percent of Muslims in America told Pew researchers that violence against civilians is “sometimes” justified in the name of Islam, and one percent said “often.” Whoa! This means there are more than 100,000 Muslim adults living in this country who could justify a suicide bombing in the name of their religion.
That is not to say that 8% would actually strap on an explosives-packed vest, but the fact that so many find it justifiable is scary enough. And the most likely place that terrorist recruiters or internet propagandists will find American Muslims who would be willing to kill is among those Muslims who don't see anything wrong with it.
And what are the worldwide implications of these statistics? Well, if we applied the United States’ 8% figure of those who would “sometimes” or “often” justify suicide bombings and other forms of violence in the name of Islam, there would be more than 100 million people around the world who just might condone the next terrorist attack. And that number might be low. According to Pew, 15% or more of adults in U.S.-allied Turkey, Jordan and Egypt believe suicide bombings are sometimes or often justified. A 2006 Pew poll found that, in France, 15% of Muslims believe suicide attacks are sometimes or often justified.
Keep in mind, this is not Fox News commentary — this is how Muslims are self-identifying to Pew researchers. I am writing not to comment on or debate immigration policy, gun control policy, various interpretations of the Quran; instead, I am merely commenting on the tens of thousands of Muslims in America and the more than 100 million worldwide who are not bashful about justifying suicide bombings in the name of Islam. They will tell strangers who call on the phone.
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