Results of a troubling national survey in Canada revealed that 23 percent of respondents believe religious diversity is bad, and that 44 percent believe diversity brings a mix of good and bad.
Anti-Islam sentiment is strong in Canada, according to results of this poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute in partnership with Faith in Canada 150. The survey found 46 percent of Canadians believe that Islam is damaging their country, while only 13 percent believe Islam is beneficial.
In analyzing its numbers, the institute stated that the results are in keeping with “a well-documented pattern” in recent years, adding, “if Islam is involved, a significant segment of Canadians will react negatively.”
“I think the low number of Canadians who celebrate the fact that we have religious freedom is very troubling and speaks to the forces of secularization that are at work in Canadian society,” said Angus Reid, founder and president of the institute.
Reid further stated that he sees the results as “a potential for intolerance” toward adherents of minority religions. Muslims account for only 3 percent of Canada’s population. The other religion which had a similar reaction in the survey, the Sikhs, accounts for just 2 percent of the population in Canada. It may be telling that both of these minority groups wear visible religious symbols, the hijab and the turban.
This is born out by the 49 percent of respondents who said a woman in a niqab should not be permitted to visit a government office. And in Quebec, where a bill was passed October 18 requiring Muslim women to show their faces when receiving provincial and municipal government services, 55 percent of respondents said Islam is damaging.
“It really is time for the religious communities in this country to set aside some of their doctrinal differences and look at coming together to communicate better with Canadians on the role of religion and faith in Canada,” said Reid.
