Pew Study on Attitudes Towards Islam

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has recently completed a study on American attitudes towards Muslims and Islam, Mormons and Mormonism and Pope Benedict XVI. (See http://pewforum.org/surveys/religionviews07/).

Most of the findings about how Americans view Muslims and Islam are not surprising: since 9/11, Americans view Muslims and Islam less and less favorably. Conservatives view Islam less favorably than liberals. High school graduates have less favorably opinions than do college graduates. Those of us who know Muslims view them more favorably than those who do not know Muslims.

Most Americans admit that they know little about Islam, but I found it surprising that 41% of the survey respondents claim to know a great deal or some about Islam. I'd stay more like 4% have anything more than a superficial knowledge of Islam. Among the faculty, staff and administration at Cerritos College (where I teach), I've met only three people who in my opinion have actual knowledge of Islam, and two of them are Muslim. Among my non-Muslim students, those who seem most knowledgeable about Islam seem to know little beyond the fact that Islam can roughly be divided into the Sunni and the Shi'a.

The naive overestimation of knowledge of Islam suggests to me that Americans believe they have some grounds upon which to make informed decisions in matters involving Islam, like, say, accessing the prudence of a US policy that seeks to remold Iraq into a Western-style democracy.

All of this underscores the purpose behind my sabbatical and eventually offering a course in Islam literature--to spread actual knowledge about Islam.