Muslims are making headlines yet again. The Pew Research Center has found that one in four American Muslims under the age of 30 think that suicide bombings can sometimes be justified as a means to defend Islam.

The alarming statistic, pulled from the survey which AP writer Alan Fram says is “one of the most exhaustive ever of the country's Muslims,” fails to address in what context the suicide bombings question was posed.  Sympathy for Palestinians runs high among American Muslims, and it seems probable that Muslims would contemplate a suicide bombing question within the framework of no-other-means-to-defend-oneself-from-occupation. The poll’s finding might also reflect, as CNN points out, that the views of young people from all backgrounds tend to be more radical than those of older people.

With headlines focusing on this one aspect of the poll, Muslims naturally will be jumping in defense of their religion. But will it really help the American public, which is regularly spoon fed such sensational statistics, to hear yet again that Islam is against suicide and terrorism?  Will it mean anything to learn that Islam is also against harming civilians, infrastructure, even trees and agriculture during a war?

The fact that Muslims are doing such things in spite of Islam, not because of it, means little when the media favors more exciting topics than Islam 101.  To those already versed in the basics, daily headlines just demonstrate that some of Islam’s followers really don’t know their own religion very well. In some cases, they might also reveal that persistent oppression drives some people to commit desperate acts. 

I wonder if American Christians were polled, would they say that the need to overthrow Saddam Hussein justified the tragic loss of civilian life in Iraq?  Would they agree with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that sanctions imposed against Iraq in 1990 were worth the hefty price of the loss of half a million civilian lives – most of them children?  If American Jews were polled, what percentage of respondents might agree that there is real need for Israel to kill innocent Palestinians for the sake of targeting militants?

I should stop here; this could really open up a can of worms. It’s just so much easier to ignore the broader truth and allow the media to make it sound like only the Muslims have a tendency towards violence.

However, with headlines like “Some US Muslims say suicide attacks OK”, that is logically what the American public will think. Surprisingly, the Muslim attitudes towards suicide bombings aren’t foremost in Pew Research Center’s list of key findings from its survey.  And, the suicide bombing result is tempered by the following statement: “Nonetheless, absolute levels of support for Islamic extremism among Muslim Americans are quite low, especially when compared with Muslims around the world.”

Perhaps even more noteworthy is the headline chosen by Pew for its report on the survey: “American Muslims: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream.”

So what then should Muslims assume when we read headlines that suggest – yet again – that Islam is being portrayed as a religion of violence?   Is it possible that that some well-meaning reporter poked around the report for a juicy tidbit to perpetuate current attitudes?   It would make sense, given journalism’s rule of thumb for finding an angle for your story – look for the controversy.

Controversy is, after all, far more interesting than what Pew considered to be most noteworthy from its own findings. Pew's article on its report opens with the following line: “The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world. “

What a relief. Too bad that isn’t making the headlines.