People around the globe favour leaders who stand up for their constituents with religious beliefs, even if the beliefs are not their own, a new Pew Research Centre survey shows. Source: NCR Online.
This survey, released on August 28, was conducted between January and May and reflects the data from nationally representative surveys of more than 53,000 respondents in 35 countries.
Residents of Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines stood out as those who most desire national leaders who stand up for people with religious beliefs. Indonesia had the highest percentage of adults (90 per cent) who say it is very/somewhat important.
Indonesians and Filipinos also placed at the top of countries where respondents wanted their leader to have strong religious beliefs, along with Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Indonesians and Bangladeshis were the most likely to say they want their leaders to share their beliefs. Both countries are majority Muslim.
Swedish adults were the least likely to say it’s vital to have a prime minister with strong religious beliefs, with just 6 per cent sharing that view.
In every country, the religiously unaffiliated were the least likely to say that leaders should stand up for people with religious beliefs.
While that may be expected, the survey presented a wrinkle: Though there is often an age gap when it comes to religiosity, younger and older adults largely agreed in Pew’s survey that their president or prime minister should stand up for religious citizens and have a faith of their own.
The exception, said Jonathan Evans, senior researcher at Pew Research Centre, is Latin America, where adults under 39 “are consistently less likely to say that each of these traits is important.”
Mr Evans said Pew found that the United States stood out among wealthier nations in the findings: 64 per cent of US respondents said it was important to have a leader who stands up for religious beliefs, a larger percentage than other industrialised nations.
Only 42 per cent of respondents in Germany and 25 per cent of respondents in France agree.
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Study: Citizens around the globe want leaders who stand up for religious believers (NCR Online)
