I’m so lousy at math that I count on my fingers (hey, Larry Summers, you talkin’ ‘bout me?). But the jolly hockey sticks reporting on a recent Pew poll on attitudes of Muslims in the U.S. had me wondering if liberal headline writers are able to count. The overall news might have been good (a large majority regard suicide bombings as wrong–the posh papers made such appealing nuggets the whole story). However, as Boston Globe scribe Jeff Jacoby notes:
“Unfortunately, the good news in this survey doesn’t neutralize the bad. And the bad news is that a small but alarming minority of American Muslims express support for jihadist terror and its perpetrators.
“Asked whether suicide bombing and other forms of terrorism that target civilians can be justified ‘to defend Islam from its enemies,’ 78 percent answered ‘never.’ But 1 percent said such massacres can ‘often’ be justified, 7 percent said ‘sometimes,’ and 5 percent said ‘rarely.’
“Another 9 percent declined to answer. Among younger Muslims, the numbers were even worse.
“Only 69 percent flatly condemned all Islamist terror. More than one in four — 26 percent — endorsed jihadist murder in at least some circumstances.
“Equally distressing: 5 percent of US Muslims have a favorable opinion of Al-Qaeda, while 27 percent refuse to give an opinion. …”
We should be delighted that the majority of Muslims are assimilating and appreciate American values. But we should also seek to tell the truth about the whole situation.