By Jonathan Walsh
Rabat - A majority of French Muslims Said they would not object if they daughter married a Jew.
An online survey commissioned by The Foundation of French Judaism, conducted in February 2015 in conjunction with a broad study of attitudes in France relating to race and religion, showed that a majority of French Muslims would not object if their daughters were to marry a Jew.
The 500 participants, all of whom were French Muslim adults, could choose whether they would “react positively” or “react negatively” to a series of scenarios regarding how their daughters would marry.
When asked how they would react if their daughter married a man of Jewish faith, 55% said they would react positively, with the remaining 45% saying they would react negatively.
The same people were then asked a similar question, but instead of asking their reactions to a man of Jewish faith they asked how participants would react to their daughter marrying a Catholic man, to which 68% responded that they would “react positively.”
Though the results indicate that European Muslims are largely progressive, there are still some conservative pockets. Another survey also published by showed that in the “general population” in France, only 21% would react negatively to their daughter marrying a Jewish man.
A debate about the ethics and usefulness of such polls erupted on social media, with some contending that these poll contravene French law due to a ban on “collecting statistics on citizens’ ethnic and religious backgrounds,” according toFrance24..
Regardless of the legality of such surveys, at a time when both Islamic and Jewish communities in France are under intense pressure, the surveys appear to indicate more tolerance by the very communities that are subject to hate crimes. Official figures from December of last year show that following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, hate crimes against Muslims have tripled while anti-Semitic attacks have doubled.
Edited by Elisabeth Myers
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