Kerby Anderson

Last Friday was the beginning of Ramadan, and I took the opportunity to explain why we sometimes see radical Muslim violence during this time. The examples I gave were from other countries, but there has been disturbing evidence that some radical Muslims in this country would also want to engage in terrorist acts. Let’s begin with the obvious statement that the vast majority of Muslims in the US are peaceful and make great neighbors. But is there a potentially violent minority in this country that should concern us? The Pew Research Center asked Muslims in this country under what circumstances “suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians is justified to defend Islam.” They found that 86 percent say that such behavior is “rarely or never” justified. What about the rest? Seven percent of Muslims in America told Pew that violence against civilians is “sometimes” justified, and one percent even went so far as to say the violence is “often” justified. There are more than three million Muslims in the US. One percent equals 30,000 potentially violent Muslims. That doesn’t mean that most of these Muslims would actually commit such an act. But it does highlight the fallacy of merely saying that most Muslims are peaceful. It is also important to remember that this is how Muslims are self-identifying to the Pew researchers. That suggests to me that the percentages might be much higher since many Muslims might be reticent to admit their belief about violence to a stranger who calls them on the phone. We should be grateful that a majority of Muslims in this country are not violent, but that should not blind us to the reality that thousands of Muslims believe that violence could be justified against their fellow Americans.