Opinion: "Muslims and the West: A Culture War?"

February 13, 2006

Source: Gallup Poll News Service

http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=21454

On February 13, 2006 the Gallup Poll News Service issued a guest commentary piece by John L. Esposito, University Professor at Georgetown University and author of "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam and Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam." Esposito comments on the recent controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, "What we are witnessing today has little to do with Western democratic values and everything to do with a European media that reflects and plays to an increasingly xenophobic and Islamophobic society. The cartoons seek to test and provoke; they are not ridiculing Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but mocking Muslims' most sacred symbols and values as they hide behind the facade of freedom of expression. The win-win for the media is that explosive headline events, reporting them or creating them, also boosts sales. The rush to reprint the Danish cartoons has been as much about profits as about the prophet of Islam. Respected European newspapers have acted more like tabloids... Cartoons defaming the prophet and Islam by equating them with terrorism are inflammatory. They reinforce Muslim grievances, humiliation, and social marginalization and drive a wedge between the West and moderate Muslims, unwittingly playing directly into the hands of extremists. They also reinforce autocratic rulers who charge that democracy is anti-religious and incompatible with Islam... Globalization and an increasingly multicultural and multireligious West test the mettle of our cherished democratic values. As the current cartoon controversy underscores, pluralism and tolerance today demand greater mutual understanding and respect from non-Muslims and Muslims alike."