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Muslim protests continue over cartoons

Public Agenda Alert
Feb. 9, 2006

For the past week, protests have continued across the Islamic world over a series of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, first published in Denmark. Among at least some Muslims, any depiction of Muhammad is considered blasphemy, and many were infuriated by one cartoon showing the prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Protests have led to deaths in Afghanistan and arson at Danish embassies in Beriut and Damascus.

The public is deeply concerned about relations with the Islamic world and consider it one of the central foreign-policy problems facing the U.S. Public Agenda research has consistently shown that Americans believe in religious tolerance. Yet the public is clearly struggling with its attitudes about Islam, a religion most don't understand. Two-thirds of Americans admit they know "not very much" or "nothing at all" about Islam and before the current controversy were divided on whether they had a favorable opinion of it. And the public's
conflicted attitudes show in surveys about racial profiling and security procedures targeted specifically at Middle Easterners.

The cartoons also raise key issues about free speech and freedom of the press. Here, too, opinion surveys have found the public often doesn't have detailed knowledge of the Constitutional issues involved. But Public Agenda research has found that the public has often absorbed the principles behind the Bill of Rights, even if they don't know the specifics, and show a nuanced ability to set aside their own views to consider the rights of others.

For more on the American public's view of the Islamic world, visit our Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index:
http://www.publicagenda.org/foreignpolicy/index.cfm

For more on racial profiling and the war on terrorism, visit our Red Flags on Race:
http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/
red_flags.cfm?issue_type=race#profiling

For more on public attitudes about the Constitution, visit our "Knowing It By Heart" study: http://www.publicagenda.org/research/
research_reports_details.cfm?list=16

For more on public attitudes about religion, visit our studies:

Religion and Public Life:
http://www.publicagenda.org/research/
research_reports_details.cfm?list=1

"For Goodness Sake":
http://www.publicagenda.org/research/
research_reports_details.cfm?list=25

For more on the controversy over the Muhammad cartoons, see Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/religion

Copyright 2005 Public Agenda. More information: www.publicagenda.org.

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