Please express your views in my questionaire

[rastinny]

Questioner
Dear respondent would you mind helping me answer these questions by highlighting what you find appropriate or by underlining it? Feel free to expand or forward to your Muslim friends. Please email me your responses on *REMOVED* . The questions may look a bit strange but they just to measure relationships between experiences of discrimination and attitudes towards cultural plurality and different forms of so called 'fundamentalism'. I also realize the word 'fundamentalism' is controversial but I just use it as a name for a movement with diverse aims and forms of action. I have posted this questionaire before but I need some more responses from Muslims especially. If there are still questions please mail me or read the lit review
it is on
Lit review

or

www.intinnsound.net/Practical2.html

At the bottom of the page you will find a link 'clash of civilizations'


What is your religion?

Christianity / Islam / Hindu / Jewish / Other / None

Where do you live?

Netherlands Ireland Other European country Non European country

My society is becoming more equal / less equal?


What do you think about Culture (Please chose only one of the options)?

• My culture is important; every one should stick to their culture to preserve it.

• My culture is important; but we should pick and choose what we like between de different cultural traits available to us.

• Culture is not so important; we should adapt to the values of rationality, democracy, science and technology.

• Other view:

What do you think of science?

Blessing / Curse / Beneficial / only sometimes beneficial / only sometimes a curse

Do you experience discrimination against your faith?

Often / Regularly / Seldom / Never

If yes, in what field?

Employment Education Housing Other:

How did it affect your dedication to religious life?

Increased dedication / No Effect / Less dedication

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Holland?

Good / Bad / Normal / I don’t know.



What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Ireland?

Good / Bad / Normal / I don’t know

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of the USA?

Good / Bad / Normal / I don’t Know


Please choose only 1 answer. If you don’t know which go to the next question.


What do you think about the Iraq insurgency?

Freedom fighters / Terrorists

What do you think about Al Qaeda?

Freedom fighters / Terrorists

What do you think about the Taliban?

Pius Muslims / Religious Fanatics

What do you think about women in burqa?

Pius Muslims / Religious Fanatics

What do you think about Salafism?

Pius Muslims / Religious Fanatics

What do you think about Sufism?

Pius Muslims / Religious Fanatics

What do you think about the American government and the ‘coalition of the willing’?

Freedom fighters / Terrorists


Thank you very much!!!!!!

Martin Naarendorp

 

[AbuKhalid]

well one thing I can tell you rastinny .. the questionair is fishy, as u said yourself.

But if you really need an answer, then check the dictionary.

fun·da·men·tal Pronunciation[fuhn-duh-men-tl] –adjective 1. serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure.
2. of, pertaining to, or affecting the foundation or basis: a fundamental revision. 3. being an original or primary source: a fundamental idea.
4. Music. (of a chord) having its root as its lowest note.
–noun 5. a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system; essential part: to master the fundamentals of a trade.

You dont need people to answer that, its already documented in dictionaries:


fun·da·men·tal·ism /ˌfʌndəˈmɛntlˌɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fuhn-duh-men-tl-iz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20th century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming.
2. the beliefs held by those in this movement.
3. strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles: the fundamentalism of the extreme conservatives.

The ones I've onderlined is what u need to know i believe. Just apply that to your situation.

ref: www.dictionary.com

 

[salmanzaid]

Dear Martin,
Here are my thoughts.
I am a new Muslim, but I have been following
Middle eastern politics in the news since I was 15 ( now 30 ).

What is your religion?

Islam, moderate sunni

Where do you live?

Melbourne, Australia

My society is becoming more equal / less equal?

Quickly less equal. Rich get richer - poor get paid less.

What do you think about Culture (Please chose only one of the options)?

• My culture is important; but we should pick and choose what we like between de different cultural traits available to us.

What do you think of science?

Only sometimes beneficial

Do you experience discrimination against your faith?

Regularly

If yes, in what field?

Employment / harrasment & bigotry at work

How did it affect your dedication to religious life?

Less dedication
I regret that I was temporarily in despair & practiced worse

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Holland?

I don’t know.

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Ireland?

I don’t know

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of the USA?

Bad !

Please choose only 1 answer. If you don’t know which go to the next question.


What do you think about the Iraq insurgency?

Freedom fighters !!!

What do you think about Al Qaeda?

( Freedom fighters / Terrorists ? )
Thats tricky. The USA govt / media uses this term for just about ANY islamic
militia in any country, often for both sunni & shia ( ie: CLUELESS ! ).
If you give me a better definition, I can respond better.

What do you think about the Taliban?

Pius Muslims
I think mainly Pious, although they made a lot of mistakes.
The Nth alliance is definitely a proxy for USA.

What do you think about women in burqa?

Pius Muslims
Freedom of choice !

What do you think about Salafism?

Pius Muslims
I don't agree 100% with these conservatives, but Thank Allah we have them.
I think it is far better to have Muhammad Feiz & Kalid Yasin, rather than some
watered-down hypocrite who loves Israel & gay muslims.

What do you think about Sufism?

Pius Muslims / Religious Fanatics
Neither - 'Sufi' is an ambigous word. There are many different groups
who use the term sufi. Some are close to Sunni & have OK books.
Others are the same as mayavadi hindus & even take intoxication.
Once again, refine your question.

What do you think about the American government and the ‘coalition of the willing’?

TERRORISTS. 100% pure evil disguised as a good reason.
The 'war on terror', is in reality just a war to get control over oil & gas, by any means necessary ( peak oil is now ) 9/11 is the world's biggest hoax.

OK there is my response.
That is just my opinion, there are 1.5 billion different opinions out there !
Any every Muslim has a different view on the world.

 

[Proud2BeHumble]

Dear Martin ,

Your research is interesting, but I have doubt about your way of researching. When we do research we have to keep all the options open and then analyze the data and come up with conclusion. However, you seem to have already arrived at the conclusion from the beginning of the project when you say that: “This project challenges this notion and suggests that conflict does not result from differences in culture but from attitudes shaped by inequality in the socio-economic order”. So it is like you already have the answer and you are calculating in reverse directon to reach or justify your opinion.

(for more details refer to you old thread: http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11286)

Though, I agree with you that all forms of problems start with injustice or discrimination at root level, but these problems immediately do not convert into a clash. As I wrote before, any injustice that is not solved for long time has tendency to convert a basic socio-economic problem into a cultural/religious problem.

Take for example the case of Iraq. Before war there was no cultural enmity between Iraq and US, but after long period of occupation and many evil acts of warmongers (see the photographs below), the problem is bound to become the cultural / religious.

So wouldn’t it be more interesting to study this phase wherein socio-economical issues are converted into religious or cultural one, along with its root causes. Once you finish your research, would you like to study all the flash points on earth in the same line.

 

[rastinny]

Hi Proud2behumble and AbuKhalid

Thank ye very much for your positive criticism.

When we do research we have to keep all the options open and then analyze the data and come up with conclusion. However, you seem to have already arrived at the conclusion from the beginning of the project when you say that:

You are very right in stating that. I have indeed written the introduction after the lit review and thought it would be good to inform the reader what to expect. I have done the research to prove or disprove the literature. I had 3 hypothesis of which 2 were confirmed and one remained unsupported. The one that remained unsupported was indeed like you suggest: less equality does not automatically correlate with more positive attitude to violence

but these problems immediately do not convert into a clash. As I wrote before, any injustice that is not solved for long time has tendency to convert a basic socio-economic problem into a cultural/religious problem.

This is exactly what I found I quote from the results:

Conflict is expressed through behaviour that challenges the social order.
The first paragraph of the literature review suggests that different participants have different motives and different ways of challenging the social order. To understand what the reason for conflict is; one needs to find out what the individual’s motive is for expressing conflicting behaviour. (Melucci) This research focuses on characteristics of societies that might motivate individuals to get engaged or support violent fundamentalism. As suggested in the literature review Simmel and Marx identified social stratification. However, Verk added that the perception of stability in inequality, often due to the experience of institutional discrimination or the repression of opposing views, convinces victims that they are unable to influence their own or their community’s social positions in conventional, peaceful manners. When people turn to institutions such as the Judiciary, or the UN for redress but fail to secure such, they feel left to their own devises. When the trust in secular institutions becomes eroded some will turn to religion for justice and recognition. The decline in trust in secular institutions goes thereby hand in hand with a decline in a belief in the legitimacy of secular institutions and violent challenges once deemed illegitimate become perceived as legitimate

The results really showed that inequality was not enough but needed to be combined with stable institutional injustice and the perception of threat When those variables were satisfied the support for violence really increased. This counts for non islamic cultures as well. Those who claimed to have no religion but percieved Islam as a threat actually showed to be most consistend in the support of violence. They were also the most consisent in claiming western culture could be enforced with violence on the rest of the world. I asked Muslims in Ireland:

Islamic values need to be implemented in the rest of the world. By force if necessary

All respondents disagreed (up to now). They also did not view western culture as a threat. The same as those Non Muslims who did not view islam as a threat to western culture. This is saying something about the society. Muslims i interviewd (in Ireland) did not report to be disriminated, they have their own business have good jobs and strong social support structure. Government and media leaves them in peace. They show low positive attitudes to violence comparend to holland where Muslims are public scapegoat. Attitudes towads violence there are fierce to put it mildly...

Point I tried to make was: different cultures react not different but the same when confronted with a certain level and stability of injust treatment. There fore the reason for conflict is not differences in cultures but like you say stability in injustice.

Still have to put up the results section probable later today Inshallah

Really appreciate your commend. Do you think I need to make that point stand out more in the text?

 

[rastinny]

So wouldn’t it be more interesting to study this phase wherein socio-economical issues are converted into religious or cultural one, along with its root causes. Once you finish your research, would you like to study all the flash points on earth in the same line.

I would love to! If your up for it we could do it together?

 

[Innvertigo]

What is your religion?

Christianity

Where do you live?

Detroit, Michigan, USA

My society is becoming more equal / less equal?

Equal

What do you think about Culture (Please chose only one of the options)?

• My culture is important; but we should pick and choose what we like between de different cultural traits available to us.

What do you think of science?

Blessing / Beneficial

Do you experience discrimination against your faith?

Seldom

If yes, in what field?

N/A

How did it affect your dedication to religious life?

No Effect


What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Holland?

I don’t know.



What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of Ireland?

I don’t know

What do you think of the treatment of Muslims by the government of the USA?

Good


Please choose only 1 answer. If you don’t know which go to the next question.


What do you think about the Iraq insurgency?

Neither, they are just soldiers on the other side....not very good ones but Soldiers nonetheless and should be respected as such.


What do you think about Al Qaeda?

Terrorists


What do you think about the Taliban?

Religious Fanatics


What do you think about women in burqa?

Religious Fanatics


What do you think about Salafism?

Religious Fanatics


What do you think about Sufism?

Pius Muslims

What do you think about the American government and the ‘coalition of the willing’?

Freedom fighters


Thank you very much!!!!!!