The thing on Muslim British College students is this: Polls suggest that Muslims in western countries are not as likely to say something like "It's OK to kill in the name of Islam" than Muslim in "Muslin" countries are. For example, if you look on page 53 of the document Sky linked you will see an inidcation of that possible difference.houndawg wrote: "It's OK to kill in the name of Islam" isn't very specific, John, and a "third of British muslim college students" is not a very representative sample of over a billion people, but thanks for sharing. I guess there is a whole lot more support for Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church than polls indicate.
As far as "representative samples" go, you're right. That is not a "representative sample" of the "over a billion people" in Islam. But I would say that as far as I can tell nobody has data based on a "representative sample" of the "over a billion people" in Islam to support the statement that a "vast majority" of Muslims want nothing to do with the philosophy Bin Laden espoused.
It's just something people say because it's the politically correct, egalitarian thing to say.
BTW, the terminology I would use is "scientific" or "probability" sample. As far as I can tell there is no such support for the statement you made.












