'Muslims, Hindus more likely to help victims'

A new poll suggests that Muslims and Hindus in the United States are more likely to intervene if they come across a situation, in which someone is being victimized.

Nearly 30 percent of Muslims and 40 percent of Hindus said they would get involved as bystanders if they witness social injustice, according to the results of the survey, entitled Bystander Backlash, released Tuesday.

In the poll, some 2,000 people were asked what they would do if they "witness an extreme situation or social injustice in public."

The greatest of the percentages belonged to Hindus and Muslims.

Risking ones safety for others has been an ancient obsession for the humans, facing a conflict of interests and unknown consequences that can sometimes even exacerbate the situation.

"Witnessing a social injustice in public invokes some kind of fight or flight response in all of us," said the polling company spokeswoman, Stacia Mullaney. "These are immediate, in-the-moment reactions that we wanted to put hard numbers on. We wondered how we might react if we witnessed social injustice or an extreme situation."

She asserted that religion is not the only factor playing a role in such a decision making.

"We found that gender also played a role in how a person responded. Women were slightly more likely to passively monitor a situation, much more likely to call for help, and somewhat less likely to step in," she said. "Political affiliation also played a small role. Republicans are about four per cent more likely to call for help, while Democrats were slightly more likely to passively monitor (31 per cent) the situation or provide comfort (6 per cent)."

Another poll result showed that only 24 percent of the people were ready to take out their phones and start videotaping an African American being harassed by police for no reason.