Polls and Muslims in France: stop manipulation
The CFCM deplores that Muslims in France are constantly stigmatized through polls that are questionable in substance and form.
Far from objectively reflecting the present situation, certain polls create and fuel sterile controversies disconnected from reality on the ground. To biased and leading questions, the responses of those surveyed can completely deviate from their own opinions and, indeed, from the opinions of all French Muslims.
The latest Ifop survey on “How do French Muslims view the conflict between Israel and Hamas?” » is no exception. French Muslims, like the majority of our fellow citizens, consider that this is not a “war between Israel and Hamas”, but essentially a massacre directed against innocent civilians. Therefore, the questions and answers in this study are completely biased.
Is it also conceivable that a similar study would be carried out only among our compatriots of the Jewish faith and the view they have on this conflict? And what do they think about the abuses of the Israeli army against women and children in Gaza and of extremist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank?
Why are our Christian compatriots not subject to or included in such surveys? However, hundreds of Christians, the majority of them women and children, were also killed in bombings, particularly of churches and hospitals in Gaza.
Another survey carried out by Ifop on behalf of the site elmaniya.tv on the relationship of French Muslims to secularism, was published on December 8, 2023. According to this survey: “for 78% of French Muslims, secularism “as applied” is discriminatory. The Cnews channel will unscrupulously headline: “78% of Muslims consider that French secularism is Islamophobic”.
In reality, the study was carried out against a backdrop of highly publicized controversies over the wearing of the “abaya”. This percentage therefore does not reflect the opinion of those surveyed and even less that of French Muslims on the principle of secularism. It only reflects their exacerbation in the face of these controversies.
Indeed, the survey itself indicates that on two subjects at the heart of secularism – separating religions and the institutions of the Republic and ensuring freedom of conscience – the vision of “Muslim” people is identical to that of the whole the French. In addition to biased questions, there is manipulation of answers and disinformation.
The Muslims of France are deeply attached to the values of the Republic: freedom, equality, fraternity, but also the principle of secularism. A secularism which is not the negation of religious convictions, a secularism which guarantees the freedom to believe as well as the freedom not to believe, a secularism which allows all citizens to practice the religion of their choice while respecting order audience.
They want their religious practice to be seen as an element of their individual freedom, with indifference and trivialization, like all their fellow citizens, of whatever faith or conviction. They refuse to allow this practice to be a permanent source of public debate and to be the subject of incessant surveys with their share of manipulation and stigmatization.
Paris, December 20, 2023
The French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM)
