BRITAIN: British Muslims are more extreme than those in several other major western European nations, according to the authors of a new global poll.
Muslims in Britain were more likely than their counterparts in France, Germany and Spain to feel there was a conflict between being devout and living in modern society, the study found.
They were also the most likely of the groups in the four countries to say Arabs did not carry out the September 11th attacks.
Their opinion of Westerners was lower and more of them described relations between Westerners and Muslims as bad.
Almost a quarter thought suicide bombings and other violence against civilian targets to defend Islam were justifiable - although some said that this was so only rarely.
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Centre, said British Muslims were the most radicalised and French Muslims the most temperate.
The Pew Global Attitudes report found that 47 per cent of British Muslims said there was a conflict between being devout and living in modern society. That compared with 36 per cent of Muslims in Germany, 28 per cent in France and 25 per cent in Spain.
More than half of British Muslims, 56 per cent, believed Arabs were not responsible for the September 11th terror strikes. Some 69 per cent ascribed three or more negative qualities to Westerners. Only 47 per cent of German Muslims, the next highest figure among the European countries, were that critical.
In every negative characteristic they were asked about, British Muslims were the most likely to associate it with Westerners.
Sixty-seven per cent saw them as selfish, while 64 per cent credited them with arrogance and 63 per cent greed. Another 57 per cent thought Westerners were immoral, 52 per cent said they were violent and 44 per cent labelled them fanatical.
British Muslims were also the least likely to believe that Westerners were respectful of women.
They were not the most likely to support suicide bombings, however. Twenty-four per cent thought there were times when such violence was acceptable. That broke down into 3 per cent who said it was often justifiable, 12 per cent who said only sometimes and 9 per cent who thought it was only rarely acceptable.
In France, 35 per cent of Muslims thought suicide bombings were justifiable - often, sometimes or rarely. The figure was 21 per cent in Spain and just 13 per cent in Germany.
One of the report's authors, Richard Wike, said: "There are some areas where the British Muslims do stand apart a little from the other Europeans we surveyed." The researchers had not examined why that might be, but wanted to dig deeper to find out.
The opinion of people overall in Britain of Muslims was relatively positive compared with other European countries.
Sixty-three per cent (down from 72 per cent last year) saw Muslims in a favourable light, compared with 65 per cent in France, 36 per cent in Germany and 29 per cent in Spain. Only 30 per cent of Britons attributed three or more negative traits to Muslims, compared to 53 per cent in Spain, 46 per cent in Germany and 35 per cent in France.
Thousands of people in 15 countries were questioned in April and May.