Religious hostilities on the rise

Post Reply New Topic

Pew Research just released the report "Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High" which shows that religious hostilities have reached a six-year high.

The report is based on 198 countries in the period 2007 - 2012.

Some of the key findings are displayed below:





Some bullet points:

- The increase in social hostilities regarding religion seems to be fueled by unrest in predominantly Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Burma).
- The increase in government restrictions on religion is centered around Islamic countries.
- Russia is going down the drain.

Sources:
Overview: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/reli ... ostilities
Full Report: http://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/R ... report.pdf
Social Hostilities Index: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/appe ... ies-index/
Government Restrictions Index: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/appe ... ons-index/
Methodology: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/appe ... thodology/

Anyway, to summarize:

"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such.... That is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." - Francis Fukuyama, 1989




Got it? Good.

well, s**t.

- While Canada is more tolerant than the U.S. and the Republic of Ireland, Mexico and the U.K. are less tolerant than the U.S. or the Republic of Ireland.

No surprises there!

I'd hazard a guess that the largest part of hostilities regarding religion in England centre around Islam. There has been a large influx of Muslim immigrants into the UK and Islam is regarded with distrust or worse by many. It doesn't help the Muslims that a highly vocal minority of them are always appearing in the news headlines demanding that England adopt Sharia law or making other provocative statements. Not long ago a couple of Muslim fanatics beheaded a soldier outside his barracks in the UK... this sort of thing gives Islam a very bad name in England and to be frank, Islam has become despised by many and the government is considered soft / too politically correct regarding their "demands".

Even the Egyptian government is cracking down on the more extremist / fundamental / radical forms of Islam like the "Muslim Brotherhood".

After 911, it was commonly thought that there would be panic, rioting and vigilante lynchings of Muslims in America, but we seem to have settled into an uneasy tolerance of Islamists -- most of us, anyway. We generally seem more concerned about mass shootings that involve disturbed youths with access to high-powered rifles and IEDs than with religious ideologies.

Then again, most immigrants -- even middle-easterners -- seem to come to America for the freedoms and opportunities that they simply do not have in their homelands.

Immigrants to the UK come for similar reasons - including state handouts - don't have a home? We'll let you live in one for free. Don't like our laws? No problem, live according to your own. Don't want to learn English? Not a problem, the state will provide all the forms and leaflets in any language of your choice enabling you to claim money to feed your family and to send money back to your extended family in your home country too. Don't like the cultural and religious norms? Not a problem, we'll make it a crime for anyone to say anything harsh about your religion. /sarcasm.

I reserve my right to disagree with anyone's beliefs, and am always happy to have a debate with anyone who disagrees with mine. That's all part of living in a healthy society, as far as I'm concerned. I have no right not to be criticised, and neither do you.

Criticise Islam now though, in the UK, and you get accused of hate speech by the same mob who love to hurl hatred at Christianity on the grounds that it's supposedly right wing and inherently homophobic.

I am unsure to what extent this is sarcastic, but most of the things you say there aren't true. State housing, for example, is very hard to come by. Everyone has to obey the law of the land (except Amazon). Immigrants have to wait to claim benefits- non-EU nationals cannot claim any benefits for two years, and EU nationals are required to be economically active (which also excludes A2 and A8 nationals from claiming income-related benefits). The alternative to "sending money home" is "bringing the whole family over", and it is not a crime to criticise a religion.

Here is a comprehensive rebuttal of some of the myths commonly pedalled by the right wing about immigration: http://www.scriptonitedaily.com/2013/03 ... the-queue/