The Daily Mail reports:
British Muslims feel a greater sense of national pride than the average UK citizen, according to the results of a new poll.
While 79 per cent of the Britons quizzed said they agreed with the statement ‘I am proud to be a British citizen’, the figure rose to 83 per cent among Muslims.
And Muslim Britons were also found to be significantly more optimistic than most with just 31 per cent agreeing with the notion that Britain’s best days are in the past compared to an average of 45 per cent.
The figures are, to some extent, understood to reflect a reaction to the hostility and distrust felt by many British Muslims in the post 9/11 world.
There is also the belief that Muslims are more able to appreciate the political freedoms UK citizens enjoy as they can trace their family roots to far more oppressive and non-democratic regimes.
The last time we reported on polling indicating high levels of patriotism and pride among British Muslims, some commenters suggested that there was an insidious agenda behind it– that the real reason Muslims expressed pride in being British was because they sensed they were about to take over the UK and institute sharia law.
Which demonstrates how some people can become so deeply entrenched in their own prejudices that they are prepared to twist contrary evidence into truly extraordinary shapes.
(Hat tip: Michael Ezra)
