Well, as I said, if you believe the figures, four out of ten British Muslims wish to see Sharia Law in Britain,
I don't think you did. I googled this and found
the poll in question. The problem with the "sharia law" question is that it could be anything from marriage counseling to stoning homosexuals. Of course, one would wish that people would always stand up for secularism, but unless secularism has been a very major topic in the general discussion (such as in Turkey, and perhaps France), I would be amazed if the average poll taker had a very good understanding of the concept of secularism.
I think that to get any good understanding of the levels of extremism, you have to look at other questions as well. For example, poll takers were asked to choose one of the following:
"Western society is decadent and immoral and Muslims should seek to bring it to an end, if necessary by violent means."
"Western society may not be perfect, but Muslims should live within it and not seek to bring it to an end."
The first statement got 7% support, the second one 80%.
Asked whether it was right or wrong:
"For Muslims to attack Danish embassies in Muslims [sic] countries as a result of the publication of the cartoons"
(14%: right, 82%: wrong)
"For Muslim demonstrators to carry placards calling for the killing of those who insult Islam"
(12%: right, 82%: wrong)
"To exercise violence against those who are deemed by religious leaders to have insulted Islam"
(13%: right, 79%: wrong)
"How loyal do you personally feel towards Britain?"
Very loyal: 49%
Quite loyal: 42%
Not very loyal: 5%
Not loyal at all: 2%
(similar figures when asked about the perceived loyalty of other Muslims)
So all in all, I don't think that poll supports the stance that the Muslim population in general has become very radical.
Well, but something like that can happen for a wide variety of reasons. Either, such views are very popular with the Muslim population in general, and they have actively chosen such an extremist because they feel he represents them. This does not seem to be supported by the poll above. Or, it could be that most Muslims are not very preoccupied with religious matters, and that extreme but zealous factions can use this to gain an influence that is much greater than their popular support would warrant.
Anyway, I am in no way arguing that Islam is not a threat in Europe. A few Muslim terrorists can kill you or me. They can't really destroy our societies though, unless other forces abuse panic created by such quite limited (in military terms) attacks. But even so, that's certainly a threat, even if it should not be overstated.
What I am arguing, is that there does not seem to be any evidence for the common assertion that Muslims in general have an anti-secular, anti-democratic agenda and that they, or their (allegedly countless) children, will ruin Europe by their sheer numbers.
