British Muslims are more patriotic

[Gromit]

77% of Muslims say they “identified with the UK” compared with only 50%t of the public at large.
Muslims also outscored the general public for their belief in our courts, honest elections, financial institutions and the media.

The study by the Open Society Institute, funded by the financier and philanthropist George Soros, was conducted over two and a half years and involved 2,200 in-depth interviews and 60 focus groups in 11 cities across Europe with large Muslim communities.

In Britain, researchers focused on Leicester and Waltham Forest, east London, where they found that levels of patriotism were even higher among second-generation Muslims.

In Leicester, 72 per cent of Muslims born abroad said they felt British but 94 per cent of those born in Britain said the same.

“There has been a policy of trying to accommodate difference here and it appears to be paying off.”

http://www.telegraph....riotic-in-Europe.html

It is good to see the British way of doing things has triumphed again, isn't it?

[Sqad]

Gromit

It is not the 77% of Muslims who say they are patriotic that we should be worrying about, but the 23% (almost a quarter) who were not patriotic.

The question should have been "Do you consider yourself to be Muslim first and British second OR British first and Muslim second. I fear that the statistics would not be the same.

[Sqad]

///////Nazia Hussain, director of the research project, said: “There is a disturbing message that emerges from these findings. Even though Muslims overwhelmingly feel British, they’re not seen as British by wider society.////

I wonder why?

[Gromit]

Sqad

Most religious people would put their faith in God before their faith in their country. Ask a christian who has the greater authority, God or the Queen, and the monarch would come a poor second.

//It is not the 77% of Muslims who say they are patriotic that we should be worrying about, but the 23% (almost a quarter) who were not patriotic. //

Should we not be more concerned then with the 50% of the general public who are unpatriotic?

[Gromit]

ahmskunnirt

This was a poll of Muslims. India is predominantly Hindu, and Sri Lanka is Buddhist.

All are former British Colonies, so it is reasonable that they can have an affinity with their ancestral homeland (when supporting a sports team) and still be patriotic British citizens.

[keyplus90]

Sqad- You do not have to organize a survey. I can say you without survey confirming what Gromit said. My faith comes before anything else as that is the matter for this world and world hereafter. Where countries of resident can be changed.

Ahmskunnirt - I don't think you should be worried about fans in cricket stadiums. However you have a right to be worried when one playing in the team (England) will not perform (purposly that is). And so far I have not seen that in any sport.

[jno]

not a Fact at all, ahmskunnirt. I support the country I came from. jno jnr however supports the country where he was born, which is Britain. He thinks I am a quaint foreigner and he is right. I suspect you will find most English-born Pakistanis/Mongolians/Barbadians are more likely to feel British than their foreign-born parents do - do you actually have any statistics to prove otherwise?

[Gromit]

ahmskunnirt

The study and my question referred to being Patriotic to Britain (good to see the British way of doing things has triumphed again) and the UK (Muslims say they “identified with the UK”), not being patriotic to England. There are many British people who would not support England.

[Gromit]

ahmskunnirt

I remember Asian cab drivers complaining when council chiefs would not let them fly the England flag during Euro 2004. They seemed very patriotic and enthusiastic supporters of the England football team.

http://www.manchester...ly_england_flags.html

[Gromit]

ahmskunnirt

The study found 94% felt 'British' not English. You seem confused about the difference.

[Gromit]

birdie1971

I don't think they were asked if they were patriotc, that is the conclusion that has been put on their answers to other questions like, do you identify with the UK? Do you trust it's institutions? Etc.

[Gromit]

ahmskunnirt

The basis for my question was this newspaper report. I am not hiding behind it, I was asking a question about it. if you disagree with its figures, please supply some of your own to counter it instead of daft Norman Tebbit twaddleg about cricket supporters.

A poll in the Independent in May reported similar findings....

//In May the Independent reported on research conducted by Gallup and the Coexist Foundation during which 1,500 of the U.K.'s 2.4 million Muslims were interviewed.
On that occasion 77 percent of the interviewees said that they "strongly identified" with the U.K. and 82 percent spoke of their loyalty to the country. In contrast only 50 percent of the general public said that they "strongly identified" with the U.K.//

http://www.independen...-of-mind-1681062.html

And...

//a BBC survey confirming that a majority of British Muslims oppose the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and would defend their country from attack, and an ICM/Guardian survey which found that 91 percent of Muslims in the U.K. are loyal to the U.K. and 80 percent want to live in and embrace Western society.//