I thought that the following survey conducted by 'Policy Exchange' in the UK was interesting;

'Living apart together - British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism'

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/246.pdf

Indeed, there was much to optimistic about in the survey results. For example;

'Despite widespread concerns about Islamophobia, 84% of Muslims believe they have been treated fairly in this society.'

And,

'The majority of Muslims feel they have as much, if not more, in common with non-Muslims in Britain as with Muslims abroad”

But unfortunately there were some shockers as well;

'...59% of Muslims would prefer to live under British law, compared to 28% who would prefer to live under sharia law. 37% of 16-24 year olds prefer sharia compared to 17% of 55+ year olds.

36% of 16-24 year olds believe if a Muslim converts to another religion they should be punished by death, compared to 19% of 55+ year olds.

7% “admire organisations like Al-Qaeda that are prepared to fight the West’. 13% of 16-24 year olds agreed with this statement compared to 3% of 55+ year olds.

74% of 16-24 year olds would prefer Muslim women to choose to wear the veil, compared to only 28% of 55+ year...'

I find the attitude of young Muslims to ex-Muslims particularly disturbing. I would suggest that only a totalitarian idealology could encourage such a totalitarian mindset. Something radically wrong has happened to modern Islam and we can no longer pretend that problems don't exist. If challenging Islam to weed out its undesirable tendencies is called 'loathing' then I'm all for it.

TR... your post needs an exclamation mark... so I'll give it one..

TR said: (quoted)

"36% of 16-24 year olds believe if a Muslim converts to another religion they should be punished by death, compared to 19% of 55+ year olds."

yessssss...hmmmmmm... THAT is an alarming statistic. Its also a TREND.
Young home grown muslims are NOT becoming more moderate they are becoming more radical. I don't suppose the DVD's by the likes of Sheikh Faiz Mohammed of the Sydney Islamic youth centre would have anything to do with that ?

TR regarding Tom Zrieka's 'friendly/moderate/progressive' approach..lets also remember HE HAD DEATH THREATS for that position.
I guess they were from Sydney's 36% of 16-24yr old who think like their peers in UK ?

100,000 Muslims in Sydney ? (a while guess) possibly 20,000 of them in the 16-24yr old bracket. 36% of 20,000 is... around 7000 ...yep..a considerable worry if this guess is even close.

Statistics are wonderful, aren't they? And they keep on coming around and coming around...

The survey quoted by TR was the one Boaz used to claim:

>>The current polling suggests 50% of UK muslim youth want to live under Sharia Law. That probably represents over a million people<<

Remember that, Boaz? Took you a while to back away from that, but hey, here it is again.

>>"36% of 16-24 year olds believe if a Muslim converts to another religion they should be punished by death, compared to 19% of 55+ year olds."

yessssss...hmmmmmm... THAT is an alarming statistic. Its also a TREND.<<

No, Boaz, it is not a trend.

It would be a trend if you surveyed again in a few years time and found that those young folk clung on to their bigotry as they got older.

What often happens is that as people get older, and take on more responsibilities in society, their tendency to want to change the world at every opportunity wanes, in favour of a more balanced, mellow attitude.

Those statistics can also be used to "prove" exactly that: older Muslims are less radical than youngsters. No great surprise, really.

Just another example of how you pounce on any opportunity to highlight anything that puts Muslims in a i) bad and ii) dangerous light.

And that is a consistent and measurable trend, my friend.

Having lived in the Muslin quarter of Calcutta, travelled by van across Pakistan, local bus across Afghanistan, hitched across Iran and travelled by local bus across Turkey I can say that Muslims have the same fundamental needs we all do. As do the humiliated, the disenfranchised and dispossesed.

Irafn, was that you I saw in the audience of 'Difference of Opinion'?

I must admit that after the show I couldn't help thinking that society could solve its religious problems by not having religion. Just get rid of Judaism/Christianity/Islam and replace them with something more useful and sensible. Honestly, the 'panel' did talk a load of predictable religious twaddle.

Irfan wrote:

"I am not a huge fan of legislation that criminalises certain types of speech."

Hear, hear!

I take it then you are in favour of repealing Victoria's notorious "Racial and Religious Tolerance Act."

Now there's a name that typifies Orwellian doublespeak. Will its enforcement be left to the "Ministry of Love" I wonder.