One would think that the endless “Religion-of-Peace-hijacked-by-a-Tiny-Minority-of-Extremists” drumbeat would have headed off all such concern, but apparently Canadians still have eyes and the capacity for independent thought. “Canadians fear Muslim, Christian tensions: survey,” by Randy Boswell for CanWest News Service (thanks to Twostellas):
Canadians believe that the country’s traditional French-English tensions will be overshadowed by friction between Christians and Muslims when Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary a decade from now, according to a survey of attitudes on intercultural and interfaith relations by the Association for Canadian Studies.
Of the 1,500 people polled, 34% said they were pessimistic about the future of Christian-Muslim relations and another 29% expected tense interaction between aboriginal Canadians and non-aboriginals by the year 2017.
Respondents were much more optimistic that white Canadians and visible minorities, as well and Christians and Jews, would enjoy good relations in 10 years. Only 16% and 14% respectively were pessimistic about those relationships, similar to the 19% who predicted troublesome French-English relations by the time Canada reaches the sesquicentennial of Confederation.
Twenty-three per cent said they were pessimistic about the relationship between religious and secular Canadians, and 22% were pessimistic about immigrant-non-immigrant relations.
“For the most part, the results reflect a fair degree of optimism,” said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Montreal-based research association. “They do, however, suggest a shift in concerns away from language and inter-racial tensions to concerns over aboriginal-non-aboriginal and interfaith relations –in particular relations between Christians and Muslims.”
He noted the Christian-Muslim relationship is a complex dynamic involving religious and cultural differences, highlighted by such flashpoint controversies as the debate over Sharia law and the expulsion of a female soccer player for wearing a hijab.