Americans Believe Christians Should Have More Religious Freedom Than Muslims
In the aftermath of both the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks, the United States has seen an uptick in anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence. Much of this has been inflamed by the idiotic, self-serving, attention-grabbing comments coming from Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
As most everyone knows by now, a day after President Obama addressed the nation regarding the San Bernardino shooting, calling for compassion and understanding towards Muslim-Americans rather than lashing out in hate and fear, Trump proposed banning all Muslims from entering the country, even U.S. citizens who were living abroad. While Republicans and Democrats largely condemned the celebrity billionaire over his plan, polls revealed that a majority of GOP voters approved of the ban.
On Tuesday, another poll showed that while most Americans believe religious liberty and freedom is very important, far more believe Christians have more of a right to these things than Muslims. In fact, out of all the religions listed to those surveyed, Islam came in dead last when it came to the importance of having rights to practice freely.
According to the Associated Press/NORC poll, which was conducted after the San Bernardino attack and Trump’s Muslim ban announcement, 82 percent of Americans believe it is important for Christians to have religious freedom protections while only 61 percent feel the same way towards Muslims. Roughly 70 percent feel Jews should have religious liberty and 67 percent think the same about Mormons.
As one would expect, when this is broken down along party lines, there is a difference, though not as wide as you’d think. 88 percent of Republicans think Christians should have religious freedom compared to 60 percent think Muslims should be protected. On the other side of the aisle, 83 percent of Democrats feel Christians should have the right to worship their religion freely. 67 percent of Dems think the same about Muslims.
Meanwhile, since the Paris terror attack in November, hate crimes against Muslims in America have tripled. Hell, dumbass bigots are even attacking Sikhs because they’re too stupid to realize that they practice an entirely different religion, but believe they’re Muslim because of course.
Considering we have a general election approaching, don’t expect the bigoted and irresponsible rhetoric to stop anytime soon. Heck, there are elections to win, books to be written, lecture tours to be booked, cable news jobs to be had…you can’t expect calm rationality and reason to take place now. Gotta whip up the fear and get the masses in a mouth-foaming frenzy!
Image via AP
