"The vast majority of Muslim in America are either atheists, agnostics, or those who do not wish to practice Islam the way their mufti or mullah or Imam dictates back home." - Denning

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim?

I do have evidence , but, first, about you quoting the Pew poll: Glenn has thoroughly de-mystified it in his May 22, May 23 and May 25 blogs. Read it, please.

As for my evidence, here it is: Go to a mosque in this country- any mosque. What do you notice? It's usually a run-down, impoverished, part-time house of worship, isn't it? Usually a second floor flat in a shopping plaza, unadorned and totally unimpressive. And the few people in there are typically poor cab drivers, store clerks, and laborers. Heck, bet you don't even know where the nearest one to you is. There are no Muslim Cathedrals, mega-churches, or limestone temples.

What does that tell you? That there is no local support for them. No money. Get it? That's evidence, isn't it? Agreed?

I do think Mona has a point here. Unlike here, some European nations are dealing with large influxes of Muslim immigrants, some of whom, a minority but a violent and determined minority, are willing to threaten and kill in order to bring about what they want. They should be denounced as they are violently oppressive, and the question about how to deal with the problem is becoming very real in Europe. I'm not sure what the answer is, except that it's not to do what Golden Boy is doing. But some efforts to encourage assimilation are probably going to be necessary. I would suggest massive economic incentives to disempower the exremsts who prey on the poor and disenfranchised young male Muslims. If they had access to good paying jobs the wacknuts would have a much tougher row to hoe.

Walter_Map,

Sure, I'm happy to point you in the direction of the Pew Poll. Try this: http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf

My statement about attitudes towards al Qaeda may be found on page 5. From the poll results:

View of al Qaeda

US Muslims

Very unfavorable 58

Somewhat unfav. 10

Favorable 5

DK/Refused 27

The results on suicide bombing were well-publicized, and you can find them yourself. Also take a look at how many Muslims think that 9/11 was carried about people other than Arabs; very interesting state of denial.

Derbig, from what I understand the sharia courts in Ontario would have the same jurisdiction as civil and family courts.

Armagednoutahere, I used to think like many of you here, until some of my Muslim acquaintances began to open up to me and tell me what they really thought. It was jaw-dropping, and I decided to learn more about Islam.

Even if you accept the worst interpretation, you still have the vast majority of American Muslims willing to oppose Al-Quaida and the use of violence. So if we had a representative roomful, and the 20 some odd percent Golden Boy is so frightened of refused to take a stand against suicide bombing or AlQuaida, you'd still have over 70 percent that would. Would you, GB, then tell those 70 some percent that claimed their religion did in fact stand against violence that they were wrong, and that you have read their scriptures and determined that theirs is a violent religion that requires them to try to force it on the rest of the world? Bizarre.

I've had just the opposite experience. I have a large number of Muslim friends and they feel very strongly that the extremists are screwing things up for the rest of them. They are all determined to put a stop to the violence. I've only met a couple that seemed to be hiding some secret empathy for the terrorists, and they were both college kids. The rest are very strongly against extremism. They want to see Islam go through a period of enlightenment. They believe their tolerant interpretation of the Koran is correct, and that those who say otherwise are just wrong. Why would I want to discourage that? It seems to me that your approach does.

The results on suicide bombing were well-publicized, and you can find them yourself. Also take a look at how many Muslims think that 9/11 was carried about people other than Arabs; very interesting state of denial.

So, 58% of American Muslims strongly favor Al Qada, but the majority don't think Al Qada was responsible for 9/11? Does this mean their support for Al Qada is unrelated to the role Al Qada had in 9/11? How do you explain that? What does that say?

Speaking of explaining contradictions, how do you explain my earlier reply that muslims do not support muslim causes with money as evidenced by the sorry shape every single mosque in this country is?

I have no intention of telling you what part of the country I live in, but take a look at this:

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2818450-islamic_mosque_and_cultural_center_district_of_columbia-i

Look up Washington DC mosques for yourself, or Northern Virgina, or California, etc. You'll see that your evidence, anecdotal as it is, is fairly weak. In fact, Salafist money is flooding into this country and is helping to fund "civil rights" groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, recently named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Hamas federal criminal trial.

Oh, and I read Glenn's articles on the Pew Poll. I also participated in the letters; I'm sure some of you remember me from there. Plenty of handwaving took place then, but the numbers remain; check it out.

As for the argument that it is "only" 20% or 25% or 27% of Muslims in America, remember this: 1) the Muslims had to give their names and addresses to get paid, which I think would naturally depress the extremity of the answers and 2) the fact that there are Muslims who actively approve of or would take part in terrorism is just part of the overall picture. As I said early on, the idea that we are in imminent danger of house fighting is a straw man argument, intended to distract from the reality of Islam here and elsewhere.