Are Islamic Terrorists Muslims?
8th January 2015
Dean’s formula is consistent with the syllogism we have heard many times from American politicians: Islam is a religion of peace; terrorists aren’t peaceful; therefore the terrorists are not “true” Muslims.
The problem is that someone forgot to tell a great many of the Prophet’s followers. A poll taken by ICM in August, for example, found that 16% of French respondents have a positive opinion of ISIS. Among French youth, ages 18-24, a whopping 27% said they have a positive view of ISIS. This is a little mystifying, as there are reported to be five million Muslims out of France’s population of 66 million, or around seven percent. It is hard to see where the remaining support for ISIS, as reported by ICM, would come from.