Poll: Shiites, Sunnis concerned about religious extremism, tension

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Muslims in Mideast countries with large Shiite and Sunni populations say they are concerned about sectarian conflict and religious extremism, polling data show.

A series of polls -- conducted from November 2011 through May 2012 by the Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project -- released Thursday found concerns about sectarian tension were most prevalent in Lebanon, with two-thirds of Muslims, including about half of Shiites and 80 percent of Sunnis, calling such tensions a very big or moderately big problem, Pew said in a release.

The polls of more than 5,000 Muslims in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon found about half of all Iraqi Muslims, more than 40 percent of Afghan Muslims and more than 20 percent of Iranian Muslims think religious conflict and extremism are at least a moderate, and maybe a very big, problem.

About two-thirds of all Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, half of Muslims in Lebanon and about one-fourth of Muslims in Iran said they were worried by religious extremism. Shiites expressed less concern than Sunnis about extremism.

The polling found majorities within both Muslim sects share fundamental tenets of Islam including belief in one God and the Prophet Muhammad, and belief in heaven and hell.

Muslims celebrate Islamic New Year and the beginning of the holy month of Muharram this week. Shiite observation includes mourning events that contributed to a split centuries ago between Shiites and Sunnis, Pew said.

The poll's overall margin of error was 5 percentage points.