{"id":2363,"date":"2010-08-26T17:04:11","date_gmt":"2010-08-26T17:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2010\/08\/poll-majority-opposes-mosque-n.php"},"modified":"2010-08-26T17:04:11","modified_gmt":"2010-08-26T17:04:11","slug":"poll-majority-opposes-mosque-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/08\/poll-majority-opposes-mosque-n","title":{"rendered":"Poll: Majority Opposes Mosque near Ground Zero, Sees Site as `Sacred Ground’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nicole Neroulias
\nc. 2010 Religion News Service
\n(RNS) The outcry over the proposed Islamic community center near Ground
\nZero should not be lumped together with protests against planned mosques
\nin other parts of the country, a new poll suggests.
\nNearly 60 percent of Americans oppose building an Islamic center or
\nmosque two blocks from the site of the 9\/11 terror attacks, but 76
\npercent would support one in their own communities, according to a
\nPRRI\/RNS Religion News Poll released on Thursday (Aug. 26).
\nThe strongest opposition to the New York project, called Park51,
\ncame from Republicans (85 percent) and white evangelicals (75 percent
\nopposed the New York project, and 24 percent don’t support mosques in
\ntheir own communities), according to the poll conducted by Public
\nReligion Research Institute and Religion News Service.
\nThe numbers suggest that the negative reaction to what’s been dubbed
\nthe “Ground Zero mosque” stems more from its proximity a site that’s
\nconsidered “sacred ground” by a majority of Americans rather than the
\ngeneral Islamophobia exhibited in the nationwide protests, researchers
\nsaid.
\n“Our findings indicate that while the vocal opposition around the
\ncountry we’ve seen covered is real, it may not represent the views of
\nthe vast majority of Americans,” said Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public
\nReligion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research firm in Washington.
\n“People are drawing a distinction between support for a
\n(hypothetical) mosque in their local community and support for the
\nparticular mosque a few blocks from the former site of the World Trade
\nCenter.”
\nAmong other findings from the PRRI\/RNS poll:
\n— Fifty-six percent of Americans consider the site of the 9\/11
\nattacks “sacred ground,” including 68 percent of Catholics, 53 percent
\nof white evangelicals, and 48 percent who claim no religious
\naffiliation. Thirty-eight percent disagreed.
\n— Sixty-three percent of Catholics, 58 percent of black Protestants
\nand 55 percent of mainline Protestants expressed opposition to the New
\nYork Islamic center. The only group that was marginally supportive was
\nreligiously unaffiliated Americans, of whom 43 percent supported the
\nproject and 40 percent opposed it.
\nMark Silk, professor of religion in public life at Trinity College
\nin Hartford, Conn., said the poll may reflect the success of Park51’s
\nopponents in getting their message across earlier and louder.
\n“You first hear `they’re building a giant mosque on the site of
\n9\/11,’ and of course your first thought is that it’s not a good idea.
\nThen you hear that it’s a few blocks away … but you’ve already been
\nthinking that it’s not a good idea,” he said. “It’s a matter of public
\nrelations.”
\nIn recent weeks, Park51 organizers have tried to revamp the
\nproject’s image, including changing its name from Cordoba House and
\nassembling a supportive coalition that includes interfaith leaders and
\nfamilies affected by 9\/11.
\nPark51 organizers Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan
\nhave rejected suggestions that they relocate the project, a compromise
\nmove pushed by New York Gov. David Paterson and New York Archbishop
\nTimothy Dolan.
\nNew York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg maintained his support for
\nPark51 at a Ramadan Dinner at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday, calling the
\nproject “a test of our commitment to American values.”
\nRelocating Park51 would not resolve the conflict, and it would send
\nthe wrong message to Muslims at home and abroad, added Ibrahim Hooper,
\nspokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
\n“This is a manufactured controversy that is exploiting legitimate
\nemotions generated by the 9\/11 attacks, by a vocal minority of
\nindividuals with an agenda to marginalize Muslims and demonize Islam,”
\nhe said. “I don’t think hate-mongers should be handled a victory.”
\nA separate study released by the Pew Research Center found that
\nAmerican opinions of Islam have dropped from 41 percent favorable to 30
\npercent favorable since 2005. On the other hand, only 35 percent said
\nthey believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage
\nviolence, compared to 38 percent last year.
\nHooper called the polls consistent with CAIR’s position that the
\nmosque protests across the country represent a minority, however vocal,
\nof public sentiment.
\n“We need to promote educational initiatives and outreach initiatives
\nin the local communities,” he said. “When people know more about Islam,
\nprejudice goes down. And when they interact more with Muslims, prejudice
\nalso goes down.”
\nSilk found some reason for optimism in the fact that a strong
\nmajority of Americans reject the idea of treating minority religions
\nwith fear and suspicion, even at a time of war.
\n“The history of the country has not been so great on a lot of
\nfeelings towards minorities, whether they’re blacks or Jews or
\nCatholics, and of course the Japanese during World War II,” he said.
\n“Yet three-quarters of the American people acknowledge the right of
\nMuslims to build religious centers in their own communities. I think
\nthat’s not too bad, really.”
\nThe PRRI\/RNS Religion News Poll was based on telephone interviews of
\n1,005 U.S. adults between August 20 and 22. The poll has a margin of
\nerror of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
\n Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of
\nthis transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written
\npermission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nicole Neroulias c. 2010 Religion News Service (RNS) The outcry over the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero should not be lumped together with protests against planned mosques in other parts of the country, a new poll suggests. 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