A shocking survey by a researcher for YouGov has revealed that the British public associate Muslims with terrorism more than any other issue.“Extremist” and “misogynistic” were also phrases most likely to be linked to the religion by Britons, according to the poll.
Researchers for the YouGov survey asked 6,640 people which three words or phrases they most associated with the term “Muslim”.
Some 12 percent said terror, terrorist or terrorism – the most frequently given phrase – ahead of faith (11%), mosque (9%), Koran (8%) and religious (8%).
Meanwhile, 5 percent of people said extremist or misogynist (prejudice against women), while Allah, Mohammed and prayer were also on 5 percent.
Jehangir Malik, the UK director of Islamic Relief, which commissioned the research, said: “The results of this poll are extremely worrying because they show that public attitudes towards Muslims are hugely negative and attitudes towards refugees have hardened significantly.
“It’s time we celebrated the role British Muslims play as part of the solution rather than demonising the Muslim community as part of the problem.”
Labour MP Mary Creagh said: “Muslim charities play a vital role in delivering aid to some of the world’s most vulnerable people in some of the world’s most dangerous places.”
The research also suggested that nearly half of Britons do not believe refugees should be welcomed into the UK.
Some 42 percent said Britain should not take in foreign nationals fleeing conflict or persecution in their own countries, according to the poll of more than 6,000 people.
Meanwhile, 47 percent said the UK should not provide refuge to people fleeing Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. Islamic Relief said the results showed a “dramatic hardening of views” towards refugees.
Just 31 percent of people believed the UK should not welcome refugees in a similar survey of 5,000 people last year, it said.
The findings come after Britain helped rescue more than 1,000 people off the coast of Libya this month, where hundreds are feared to have drowned so far this year trying to make the crossing to Europe.
More 95 percent of fleeing refugees into Europe are Muslims and almost most countries at civil war are Muslim states.
A separate survey showed a “torrent” of negative stories has been revealed by a study of the portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the UK media, according to a report published end of last year.
According to the UK Census 2011 Islam is the second largest religion, giving the UK Muslim population in 2011 as 2,786,635,4.4% of the total population.
Source:
Cabays Media Staff
editor@cabays.com
