UK more suspicious of Muslims than America and rest of EU

Britons are more suspicious of Muslims than Americans and other Europeans, according to a poll for the Financial Times. Only 59 per cent of Britons thought it possible to be both a Muslim and a citizen of their country, a smaller proportion than in France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the US – the other countries polled by Harris Interactive.

The findings suggest that terrorist plots against the UK, including the London bombings of July 7 2005, have hardened British attitudes towards Muslims. Osama Saeed of the Muslim Association of Britain blamed the findings on what he called “a vicious campaign” by the press against the Muslim community.

Finanical Times, 20 August 2007

See also “Religious fault line divides Europeans” in the same issue.