Pew Research: One in four young U.S. Muslims say Suicide Bombings are Acceptable

Twenty-six percent of young Muslims living in the United States say suicide bombings in the defense of Islam can be justified, according to a major study of American Muslims released today. And only 40% of all Muslims say they believe Arabs were behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Apparently, Denial is not just a river in Egypt. 5 percent (that's one in twenty for those of you from Berkeley) of U.S. Muslims expressed favorable views of the terrorist group al Qaeda. Assuming there are about 5 million Muslims in the US, that would amount to about a quarter of a million (250,000) who have a "favorable view" of al Qaeda living in the USA. How many of these folks would be willing to act on their views is the big question. Lets assume for a moment that only 1% of those would act out their "favorable view" of al Qaeda; that means that there are potentially around 2,500 radical Muslim terrorists living in the United States. Please keep in mind that these are the responses of Muslims who live in a society where it is mostly socially unacceptable to openly admit such belief's. My bet is that the real negative numbers are much higher than these, which are distressing enough.

The latest survey of American Muslims won't reassure their fellow citizens