SINGAPORE: According to a Pew Research Center analysis, Singapore’s high level of tolerance for various religions — six out of ten respondents claim to have’ personal connections’ to at least one religion other than their own — is one indicator of how” remarkable on the global scale” its religious diversity is.
Singaporeans have significantly higher levels of tolerance and popularity for people of other faiths than other regional countries surveyed, according to the study, which was published on the website of the United States-based think tank next Friday( Oct 6 ). This is in addition to Singapore’s great religious diversity, with only about a third of its population practicing any one religion.
The study was based on data from the Pew Research Center survey from 2022, whose results were released by CNA next month. The study included more than 13,000 people from Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and India.
Singaporeans” report higher levels of interethnic compassion and acceptance on several measures ,” according to the statement. Along with a history of state-sponsored cooperation in the nation, this compassion also appears. & nbsp,
” The government has steadfastly pushed the idea that & nbsp, being multiracial and multireligious is foundational to the country ever since its independence in 1965.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Given that conflicts and tensions resulting from religious differences are relatively common around the world, Singapore’s higher levels of interethnic tolerance and understanding on a variety of measures are noteworthy.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian violent organization Hamas, which has already claimed thousands of lives, is the most recent example of such problems.
In Nigeria, for instance, religious conflicts frequently break out between the Muslim-majority North and the Christian minority South, while Myanmar, which is dominated by Buddhists, has been embroiled in humanitarian disputes over the past few years over how it has treated the Rohingya people, a Sunni ethnic minority group in the nation’s Rakhine State. & nbsp,
Religion and Taiwanese identity are not closely related.
According to the study, Singaporeans do not think that their religious beliefs significantly affect their” Singaporean-ness,” in contrast to results from other nations polled in the Pew poll in 2022, where religion plays a significant role in national identity.
For instance, only 13 % of the 2, 036 Singaporeans surveyed andnbsp believe this to be the case, despite the fact that about three in four of those Pew in Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia said it is crucial to practice the majority religion in order to truly be a part of their country.
According to the Census of Population 2020, one-third of Singaporeans said they practiced Buddhism, followed by Christianity( 18.3 %), Islam( 14.7 %), and Taoism( 10.9 %).
Nearly one in five ( 17 %) of respondents said they did not practice any particular religion.