11/29/2004 7:00:00 AM GMT

Source: AFP

A new opinion poll about the integration of Islam in Switzerland showed that the majority of Swiss people support the Muslim woman's right to wear a headscarf at her workplace.

About fifty-three percent said that a recent move by a supermarket chain allowing women in public sales jobs to wear the Islamic headscarves was right. Whereas 36 percent opposed the idea, the newspaper Sonntagsblick reported.

The poll, conducted by Isopublic survey company, also showed that the French-speaking Swiss were more opposed to the idea of allowing headscarves in the workplace compared to the Germanic and Italian language communities in Switzerland, the newspaper added.

Moreover, a huge majority nationwide, about 76 percent, did not feel the 300,000 Muslims living in Switzerland posed any threat, while 16 percent felt the opposite, according to the poll.

57 percent supported Muslims who wanted their children dispensed from standard religious education at school to be taught Islamic teachings instead, whereas 31 percent rejected the idea.

"The findings show that the Swiss people are very tolerant about the integration of minorities," Farhad Afshar, head of a coordination body for Islamic organizations in Switzerland, told Sonntagsblick.

Two-thirds of those polled supported criminal proceedings against Muslims who advocated stoning -- whereas 26 percent opposed them -- and 78 percent supported providing Muslim women with courses to ensure that they were aware of their rights.

Swiss people are divided over granting an official place to Islam alongside the officially-recognized Protestant and Roman Catholic churches.

46 percent favored the idea while 43 percent rejected it.

The opinion poll was conducted amid debate in European countries regarding the integration of the Muslim community in Western societies, including the ban of religious symbols in French schools, and particularly the Muslim headscarf, the veil.

The poll surveyed 1,101 people aged between 15 and 74 by telephone throughout Switzerland.