Comments on: One True God – not as popular as you might think

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:18:52 +0000

albeit mostly a moderate and tolerant form when compared to the purists who chose to move to Pakistan/Bangladesh following partition.

this is kind of a stupid comment.

1) muslim purists (e.g., deobandis) opposed partition (albeit, more for reasons of muslim supremacy)

2) the people who moved moved because they could, not ideology. e.g., they were geographically close, and had the economic means to move.

finally, you can look at muslim views in the WVS. indian muslims aren’t different from bangladeshi ones last i checked. the data above are for hindus only.

update: just to note, removing hindus only for india gives a number of 29 percent. so i was wrong in my last sentence.

By: Karan

Karan — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:51:12 +0000

It’d be worthwhile to note that 10 – 15% of the Indian population is Muslim, albeit mostly a moderate and tolerant form when compared to the purists who chose to move to Pakistan/Bangladesh following partition.

@Jorge Laris (#10), you’d need an objective measure of democracy and plurality to define that, but I don’t think you can argue that the countries represented in the chart above are significantly far apart on the issue (barring Saudi Arabia) – Turkey, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa are all functioning democracies as much as the others; education levels don’t differ much between the US, Australia and the European countries despite the significant differences in views.

By: Steve Arizona

Steve Arizona — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:32:40 +0000

Why aren’t Jews as a religion or Israel as a country mentioned?

By: Giggsy

Giggsy — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:06:59 +0000

”Obviously in Saudi Arabia this is irrelevant, as nearly the whole population has a religious affiliation”

Is it not compulsory to be Islamic in saudi arabia, hence the climate for christians, jews, hindus, buddist and athiest is not and has never been accommodated?. Also i read that to leave Islam is an offense or to go against the koran and other religous texts, so in that environment would it be safe to say its a governmental order to believe and ….no choice is actually given?

thanks.

By: Jorge Laris

Jorge Laris — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:55:46 +0000

It may be interesting to compare the levels of democracy and plurality, as well as education of people in those countries, with this results.

By: Diogeron

Diogeron — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:04:45 +0000

I was certainly taught in Catholic schools that all non-Catholics would go to hell or purgatory. One more reason why I am not religious

By: jb

jb — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:47:06 +0000

There are certainly lots and lots of Christians today who do not believe that non-Christians automatically go to Hell, but my understanding has been that this is pretty recent, and that prior to maybe 150 years ago the official teaching of most Christian sects was that all non-Christians — indeed, often all Christians not belonging to the correct sect — were in fact damned.

That’s certainly what the medieval wars of religion in Europe were about (or at least how they were justified). And it explains why Puritans in New England were willing to hang Quaker missionaries. (The Quakers however did not consider all non-Quakers damned, so they were an early exception to the rule). And I believe the Catholic Church taught that non-Catholics were damned well into the 20th century (until Vatican II?). I remember reading some hair-raising quotes from 19th Century popes about Protestantism! So while many of the theological particulars of modern fundamentalist Protestantism are new, the exclusive attitude towards salvation isn’t one of them.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:41:29 +0000

#6, i’m giving an “out” for ex-communist nations. they’re all more secular by and large than turkey. e.g., kryghyzstan’s current head of state is an agnostic woman of kyrghyz background.

By: marcel

marcel — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:02:46 +0000

In re Turkey and Saudi Arabia holding down the 2 poles of Islamic piety, I’d want to see where Malaysia is before accepting that with confidence. My impression (about which I must admit I am feeling less certainty as I type) is that Malaysian Islam is pretty relaxed. Also, what is the current religious makeup of what is currently considered to be Bosnia? Did the war make it more unitary? If so, I’d like to see where it falls.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:26:08 +0000

In contrast, you have the Muslim model, which combines high levels of commitment with low levels of pluralism.

By that, you mean that people who practice Islam are intolerant towards other religions? Shocker.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:20:34 +0000

#3, u know i’m an atheist, right?

By: Theophile

Theophile — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:08:31 +0000

Hi Razib,
I have also found the “New Atheists” do not want to acknowledge Fundamental Protestantism as being any different than any Christianity, Roman Catholic or otherwise. On the claim of “exhibiting more fidelity to Christianity”(According to the Bible); the testimonials of those believers described in Foxes book of Martyrs* cannot be disputed. It’s a shame this book has been put out of our history classes, churches, and memory. I guess it can’t be made politically correct, seeker friendly, or support blind nationalism(secular or theocratic), without altogether erasing it’s text and rewriting history.
What percentage of “professing, church attending, Christians” would You say have read through the entire Bible on their own, pondering what it said? The world ecumenical movement is under way, the mantra “since we all agree it must be true” giving way to “what we eventually will agree on, must be true(never mind the apathy in the confusion).
It kind of reminds me of an article I read where the author suggested a “mandatory internet voting system, for a pure democracy”. I commented asking him if he had read Plato, he responded “no, and I don’t plan to, too boring”.
* http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22400/22400-h/22400-h.htm

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:25:28 +0000

what? clarify.

By: Dwight E. Howell

Dwight E. Howell — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:59:06 +0000

Reasonable enough I suppose. There is more than enough data that only the most draconian measures can force people to low religious pluralism over a long time span.