Latest / Challenges of Faith Radio Program / R u a Religious or Christian Nationalist? Ep 2813

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R u a Religious or Christian Nationalist? Ep 2813 · Challenges of Faith Radio Program

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Challenges of Faith Radio Program. I am
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  Speaker 1: Garry McCant. Thank you for joining, Thank you for joining
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  Speaker 1: on Challenges of Faith Radio Program, Episode number twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred and thirteen, Like to acknowledge God and you are listeners,
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  Speaker 1: and the question is are you a religious? For Christian Nationalists?
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  Speaker 1: Where are you? Before we begin? Like the lift up
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  Speaker 1: prayer for our president, vice president, all judges everywhere, law enforcement, military,
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  Speaker 1: all first responders, America's relationship with Israel and end up
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  Speaker 1: all wars, and America's health and well being. And prayer
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  Speaker 1: for the Senate, US Senate, House of Representatives and the
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  Speaker 1: state local county and their staff. And prayer for the
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  Speaker 1: needs across the US States. Prayer for the state, city
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  Speaker 1: county officials to be discerning as they seek to resolve
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  Speaker 1: issues that concern their residents, their citizens, and for America's
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  Speaker 1: faith community. Now the question still remains, are you a
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  Speaker 1: religious or a Christian Nationalists? Where are you? The Pew
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  Speaker 1: Research Center let's put out a report comparing the levels
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  Speaker 1: of religious nationalism around the world by global standards. The
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  Speaker 1: United States has a relatively low level of religious nationalism,
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  Speaker 1: but it stands out from other high income countries. Are
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  Speaker 1: you listening? You sure? The report says, in many countries,
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  Speaker 1: religion and politics are deeply intertwined. The belief that a
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  Speaker 1: country's historically predominant religion should be a central part of
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  Speaker 1: its national identity and drive policymakings is sometimes described as
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  Speaker 1: religious nationalism. A wide range of movements have been described
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  Speaker 1: as religious nationalism, including in India, where the prime minister
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  Speaker 1: has campaign and govern on the idea that Hindoo faith
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  Speaker 1: and culture should shake government policies, and in Israel, where
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  Speaker 1: the Prime minister is backed by coalition that include orthodox
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  Speaker 1: and national religious parties. If there is no universally accepted
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  Speaker 1: definition of religious nationalism, leaving lots of room for debate
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  Speaker 1: over who is, say, a Christian nationalist or a Hindu nationalist,
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  Speaker 1: this has made it difficult to assess how common such
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  Speaker 1: views are around the world. And before I continue, I
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  Speaker 1: want to say that and of ones with the word
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  Speaker 1: the biblical word, Christianity is not a religion, It's a person,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. So I wanted to make the distinction. As
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  Speaker 1: we continue talking about these definitions, the Pere Research Center
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  Speaker 1: report continues to say, to help fill this gap, Pere
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  Speaker 1: Research Center has set out to measure powersho consistent way.
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  Speaker 1: What share of people in different countries view the dominant
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  Speaker 1: religious tradition as central to their national identity, want their
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  Speaker 1: leaders to share their religious beliefs, and want religious teachings
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  Speaker 1: to guide their laws. So they asked four questions, how
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  Speaker 1: importance belonged to the historically predominant religion to being truly
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  Speaker 1: part of your national identity? How important is it for
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  Speaker 1: your national leaders share your religious beliefs. How much influence
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  Speaker 1: do you think the historically predominant religion sacred texts should
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  Speaker 1: have the laws of your country? When the sacred text
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  Speaker 1: conflicts with the will of the people, which should have
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  Speaker 1: more influence on the laws of your country. And in
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  Speaker 1: this report and Buddhist report, they define religious nationalists as
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  Speaker 1: people who identify with the historically predominant REGs religion also
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  Speaker 1: often the majority of religion, and takes strong and takes
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  Speaker 1: a strongly religious position on all four of these questions.
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  Speaker 1: In Turkey, for example, religious nationalists would be a Muslim
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  Speaker 1: who says being a Muslim is very important to being
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  Speaker 1: truly Turkish, and it is very important that turkey'sh president
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  Speaker 1: shared their religious views and the Quran should have at
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  Speaker 1: least a fairmal of influence over Turkey's laws, and when
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  Speaker 1: the Qur'an conflicts with the will of the people of
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  Speaker 1: the Quran should have more influence. In Israel, a religious
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  Speaker 1: nationalist would be a Jew who says being a Jew
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  Speaker 1: is very important to being truly Israeli, and it is
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  Speaker 1: very important that Israel's prime ministers share their religious beliefs.
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  Speaker 1: And Jewish scriptures should have at least a fair mal
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  Speaker 1: of influence over israel laws. And when Jewish scripture and
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  Speaker 1: conflict with the will of the people, Jewish scriptures should
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  Speaker 1: have more influence. In the United States, a religious nationalists
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  Speaker 1: would be a Christian who says being a Christian is
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  Speaker 1: very important of being truly American, and it is very
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  Speaker 1: important that the US presidents share their religious beliefs, and
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  Speaker 1: the Bible should have leaves some influence over US laws,
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  Speaker 1: and when the Bible conflicts with the will of the people,
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  Speaker 1: the Bible should have more influence. Using this definition, the
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  Speaker 1: prevalence of religious nationalism varies widely across the thirty five
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  Speaker 1: countries where a few research asks all four of these questions.
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  Speaker 1: Fewer the one percent of adult survey meet the criteria
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  Speaker 1: in Germany and Sweden, compared with more than four and
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  Speaker 1: ten in Indonesia forty six percent and Bangladesh forty five percent.
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  Speaker 1: In this global perspective, the United States does not stand
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  Speaker 1: out for specifically high levels of religious nationalism. Let me
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  Speaker 1: repeat it, the United States does not stand out for
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  Speaker 1: especially high levels of religious nationalism. Just six percent of
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  Speaker 1: US adults are religious nationalism by the combination of these
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  Speaker 1: four measures, about the same level as several other country
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  Speaker 1: surveyed in the America, such as Chile six percent, Mexico
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  Speaker 1: eight percent, Architena eight percent. Canada has a relatively low
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  Speaker 1: share a religious nationalist three percent, while Colombia twelve percent,
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  Speaker 1: Brazil thirteen percent, in Peru thro seventeen percent have somewhat
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  Speaker 1: higher shares. However, the United States does stand up when
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  Speaker 1: compared with other high income countries, particularly them questions about
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  Speaker 1: religious texts. The United States adults were more likely than
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  Speaker 1: people in any other high income country survey to say
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  Speaker 1: the Bible currently has either a great deal or some
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  Speaker 1: influence over the laws of their country and other countries.
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  Speaker 1: People were asked about other texts, and the United States
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  Speaker 1: public is also more included than people and other high
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  Speaker 1: income countries to say that the Bible should have should
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  Speaker 1: have that kind of influence, again relative to the sacred
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  Speaker 1: texts acts about in other places. Americans are also among
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  Speaker 1: the most likely of any high income public for I
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  Speaker 1: mean two describe a religious identity. In this case, being
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  Speaker 1: a Christian is very important to truly sharing in the
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  Speaker 1: national identity that is, being American say it is very
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  Speaker 1: important for their country's political leader to have strong religious beliefs.
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  Speaker 1: Few research asked the question between the differences between wealthy
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  Speaker 1: and less wealthy countries. The surveys shows that, in general,
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  Speaker 1: high income countries differ sharply from middle income countries as
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  Speaker 1: defined by the World Bank. Notice notice who's doing these definitions.
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  Speaker 1: Notice who is landing out what they specifically think and
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  Speaker 1: what if the individuals that are laying all the the
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  Speaker 1: questions out and have the solutions are atheists, no beliefs.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to public attitudes about religion, people in
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  Speaker 1: the middle income countries or more likely in people in
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  Speaker 1: richer countries to say religion does more good than harm
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  Speaker 1: for society. Religion encourages tolerance rather than intolerance. Religion does
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  Speaker 1: not incurage superstitious thinking now, think about what's being said?
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  Speaker 1: Are you thinking about it? People who live in middle
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  Speaker 1: income countries are more likely than people in high income
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  Speaker 1: countries that have a religious affiliation to pray regularly and
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  Speaker 1: to say religions are important their life. Religious people tend
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  Speaker 1: to favor a role for religion in public life, so
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  Speaker 1: it stands the reason that in countries where more people
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  Speaker 1: follow a religion, religion is more likely to be seen
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  Speaker 1: as a positive influence in society. For example, in Bangladesh,
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  Speaker 1: where about nine intent adults are Muslim, ninety four percent
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  Speaker 1: save religions mostly help society. But in Sweden, where fewer
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  Speaker 1: than half of adult survey forty seven percent have a
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  Speaker 1: religious affiliation, forty two percent say religion is helpful. People
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  Speaker 1: in middle and high income countries also differ over the
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  Speaker 1: road they think religion should play in public life. For example,
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  Speaker 1: in many middle income countries, majorities want religious texts like
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  Speaker 1: the Bible of the Quran to have either a great
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  Speaker 1: deal or a fair amount of influence on their country's laws.
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  Speaker 1: On their country's laws, by contrasts, and most high income
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  Speaker 1: countries survey only a minority of adults want religious texts
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  Speaker 1: to play this role. In some wealthier countries, people also
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  Speaker 1: tend to prioritize the will of the people over religious
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  Speaker 1: texts when the two conflicts. In middle income countries, the
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  Speaker 1: opposite is true. People in middle income countries also are
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  Speaker 1: more likely than those in high income countries to say
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  Speaker 1: it is very important for the leader of the country
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  Speaker 1: to have religious beliefs that are the same as their own,
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  Speaker 1: and to have strong religious beliefs. Period Religion played more
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  Speaker 1: of a role in national identity in the middle income
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  Speaker 1: countries than the high income countries surveyed. While comparatively few
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  Speaker 1: people in most high income countries say that sharing the
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  Speaker 1: country's historically predominant religion is very important for being truly
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  Speaker 1: part of that nation, half of more and most middle
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  Speaker 1: income countries see religion as a key part of national belonging.
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  Speaker 1: People in middle income countries are also more likely to
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  Speaker 1: be religious nationalists. Religious nationalists do not make up a
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  Speaker 1: majority of the population in any country survey, but in
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  Speaker 1: thirteen of the seventeen middle income countries survey since Tinsania
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  Speaker 1: is not included in our analysis of religious nationalism, there
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  Speaker 1: are double digit shares of religious nationalists. These shares reach
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  Speaker 1: around a third or more in Kenya thirty two percent,
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  Speaker 1: Malaysia thirty eight percent, fag Ladesh forty five percent, and
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  Speaker 1: Indonesia per In most high income countries, there are fewer
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  Speaker 1: religious nationalists, indeed, and nine of the eighteen high income
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  Speaker 1: countries surveyed one percent or less of the public meets
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  Speaker 1: the criteria, while the shares are somewhat higher in a
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  Speaker 1: few countries nine percent. In Greece and Israel, for example,
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  Speaker 1: is no high income country the religious nationalists make up
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  Speaker 1: a double digit percentage of the overall public. In many countries,
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  Speaker 1: people who pray daily are more likely than those who
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  Speaker 1: prayed less frequently to be religious nationalists under the definition
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  Speaker 1: used for this pure research report. For example, in India,
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven percent of people who say they pray at
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  Speaker 1: least once a day are religious nationalists, compared with seventeen
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  Speaker 1: percent of those who pray less frequently. Older people in
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  Speaker 1: some countries are somewhat more likely than younger people to
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  Speaker 1: be religious nationalists. In Greece, thirteen percent of people ages
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  Speaker 1: of fifteen older are religious nationalists, compared with eight percent
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  Speaker 1: of those ages thirty five to forty nine, and only
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  Speaker 1: one percent of adults under thirty five. In many countries,
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  Speaker 1: people with lower levels of education are also somewhat more
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  Speaker 1: likely to be religious nationalists than those would higher levels
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  Speaker 1: of education. In Kenya of thirty eight percent of people
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  Speaker 1: with less than a secondary degree of religious nationalists compared
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  Speaker 1: with twenty two percent of those with a secondary degree
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  Speaker 1: or more education. And fewer countries, people with lower incomes
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  Speaker 1: and more likely than those would higher incomes to be
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  Speaker 1: religious nationalists. This is the case in Brazil, with seventeen
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  Speaker 1: percent of respondents where incomes or at or below the
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  Speaker 1: median and are religious nationalists, compared with nine percent of
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  Speaker 1: those with higher income. You know what's interesting to me.
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  Speaker 1: I can't speak for you or you or you you,
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  Speaker 1: but for me who defines this? What are their belief systems?
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  Speaker 1: And the individuals who they're defining what has been their
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  Speaker 1: faith journey? That God has had an impact in their
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  Speaker 1: life causing them to change, convert now believe when once
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  Speaker 1: did not. You know, there, you know you've heard, I
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  Speaker 1: know you have it said that God helped those who
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  Speaker 1: helped themselves. But where is that scripture wise, You're not
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  Speaker 1: gonna be able to find that. So think about the
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  Speaker 1: individuals that they're talking about that are wealthy in contrast
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  Speaker 1: to those who are not wealthy and poor. And you
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  Speaker 1: got to remember now, scripturally, the scripture recognize the rich
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  Speaker 1: and the poor, no middle class, whereas humans do classism.
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  Speaker 1: But I say that to say so, if you are
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  Speaker 1: dependent on your materialism, your wealth, and all of those
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  Speaker 1: things that are temporary, then you really don't see a
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  Speaker 1: need to have a belief in God. And again, depending
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  Speaker 1: on what God you're speaking of, because your God can
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  Speaker 1: be your idol, can be your love of money, the
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  Speaker 1: love of titles, the love of materialism, love of you,
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  Speaker 1: you name it. Let's continue with the report. In addition,
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  Speaker 1: people who place themselves in that in the illellogical right
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  Speaker 1: or ideologic right are more likely to be religious nationalists
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  Speaker 1: than those in the center on the left in many
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  Speaker 1: countries where the survey ads about the political beliefs in polling,
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  Speaker 1: for example, eight percent of people in the right are
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  Speaker 1: religious nationalists, compared with one percent of fewer in the
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  Speaker 1: center on the left. In Europe, people with favorable reviews
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  Speaker 1: favorable views of several right wing populist parties are also
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  Speaker 1: somewhat more likely than people with unfavorable views of those
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  Speaker 1: parties to be religious nationalists. Returning to the example of Poland,
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  Speaker 1: ten percent of adults who owe a favorable view of
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  Speaker 1: the Law and Justice Party are religious nationalists, compared with
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  Speaker 1: one percent of those who see that party unfavorably. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: in the case of beliefs and party favorability, the relationship
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  Speaker 1: could also be reversed. That is, people who hold certain
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  Speaker 1: beliefs about religious nationalism may be more likely to have
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  Speaker 1: favorable views of specific right wing populist party or to
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  Speaker 1: place themselves on the right of the belief spectrum than
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  Speaker 1: those who did not hold those beliefs. Are you listening?
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  Speaker 1: Are you sure? Can states have a religious character and
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  Speaker 1: be democratic? According to this report and a number of
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  Speaker 1: countries with sizable Muslim and Jewish populations, we also asked
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  Speaker 1: whether their country can be both democratic and a Muslim.
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  Speaker 1: With Jewish country and countries with Muslim majorities, most do
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  Speaker 1: think the state can be both democratic and Muslim. The
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  Speaker 1: Sharitans who believe this are particularly high in Bangladesh eighty percent,
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  Speaker 1: Tinsania eighty two percent, Malaysia eighty percent. Islam is the
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  Speaker 1: official state religion in Bangladesh and Malaysia, and it was
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  Speaker 1: the official religion in Tinsania until twenty twenty two, So
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  Speaker 1: what happened? Slightly smaller majorities in Indonesia seventy percent and
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  Speaker 1: Turkeys sixty seventy percent agree that their country can be
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  Speaker 1: both Muslim and democratic at the same time. But in Nigeria,
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  Speaker 1: where Muslims are not the over women majority of the population,
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  Speaker 1: only forty percent Nigeria can be both a Muslim state
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  Speaker 1: and a democratic state. And let me touch on Nigeria
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  Speaker 1: because I've continuously shared data data as relates to all
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  Speaker 1: of the killings that's been taking place against the Christians,
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  Speaker 1: and I always ask the question, not only from Nigeria's standpoint,
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  Speaker 1: but persecution around the globe. Why the followers of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: What's going on? Well, you know the answer, But let's
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  Speaker 1: get back to the report. Israel defines itself as a
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  Speaker 1: Jewish and democratic and indeed seventy three percent of adult
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  Speaker 1: survey and Israel agree their country can be both. Only
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  Speaker 1: about a quarter say the country cannot be a Jewish
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  Speaker 1: state and a democratic state at the same time. Still,
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  Speaker 1: there are major differences by religion as well as among
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  Speaker 1: Jewish religious groups. Now you've heard me pose the same
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  Speaker 1: question as released to whether it's the people of faith
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  Speaker 1: in terms of the followers of Jesus Christ, not of
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  Speaker 1: a religion, but of a person, Jesus Christ, because he died,
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  Speaker 1: burid and raised again according to the scripture. But the
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  Speaker 1: same as released to Israel. I mean, look what's going on,
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  Speaker 1: Look what's been going on. And the question still remains why.
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  Speaker 1: You can say what you want, but the question still
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  Speaker 1: remains why, because they the factor for a follower of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. It's a different topic, it's a different meaning
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  Speaker 1: in of course, with the word of God. Again, you
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  Speaker 1: can say what you want, but that's what it is.
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  Speaker 1: You have to take that up with God. You know
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  Speaker 1: you do. Back to the report, they're among These are
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  Speaker 1: among the key findings of a thirty six country survey
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  Speaker 1: conducted by a Pew Research Center in the first five
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  Speaker 1: months of twenty twenty four. Now keep in mind now
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  Speaker 1: we're now in the second month of twenty and twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: so as reports findings still stand a year later. Well, now,
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  Speaker 1: you know, those of you who listen to challenges of
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  Speaker 1: Favor radio program from around the country and abroad in
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  Speaker 1: many of these same countries, what say you, are you
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  Speaker 1: going to do your own independent research for factory research
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  Speaker 1: for your country, Yours, yours, yours, and ours here with
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  Speaker 1: William m hmm