U.S. Muslims less extreme than others

WASHINGTON — Muslims in America are better assimilated and more concerned about religious extremism than their counterparts in Western Europe and elsewhere in the world, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

The survey, covering the views of 1,050 Muslims out of an initial sample of more than 55,000 people interviewed in English, Arabic, Urdu and Farsi, is the most comprehensive of its kind. It showed a mostly immigrant adult Muslim population that is hardworking, educated, relatively affluent and, despite shared concerns about post-Sept. 11 discrimination, generally content with life in the United States.

But that contentment does not resonate as strongly among American Muslim youths.

The poll found that those under 30, despite having deeper American roots, were comparatively accepting of religious fundamentalism and far more likely to think of themselves as "Muslims" before "Americans." Twenty-something Muslims were also found to attend mosque more than older adults and be more sympathetic to extremist organizations. About one in four young Muslims thinks suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified at least in rare circumstances, compared to only 9 percent of Muslim adults 30 and over sharing the same opinion.

While pollsters admitted such trends are somewhat troubling, they said the figures were not cause for alarm.

"In general, the youth are the ones who regardless of what their religion is, regardless of what race they are, tend to support more violence," said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University and an adviser to the poll. "Call it hormones, call it maturity, whatever, they tend to see things in this black-and-white, us-versus-them mentality."

But on the question of exhibited religiosity, Jamal said, the issue was not so clear-cut.

"The youth population is more likely to attend mosque, but they pray less, they read the Quran less," she said. "Mosque serves other purposes. In many ways the mosque is a safe haven for people to feel comfortable with their Muslim identity."

A majority of Muslims feel that their identity is under siege, at least in part, the survey showed. Fifty-three percent of those polled said that it has been more difficult to be a Muslim in the United States since Sept. 11 because of anti-Muslim discriminatory attitudes, though 73 percent of those surveyed said they had never experienced such discrimination themselves.