Among its neighbors, Singapore is a spiritual anomaly. Surrounded by deeply religious countries with overwhelming Muslim or Buddhist majorities, the island city-state is by some measures the world’s most religiously diverse society, with no single faith composing a majority.

Today, two out of three Singaporeans don’t see religion as very important. Yet the country has the region’s highest rate of conversions—including to Christianity—according to a special Pew Research Center study on religion in South and Southeast Asia released today.

Singapore’s lack of a single dominant religion coincides with more “religious switching,” Pew’s terminology for adults converting to a different religion from the one they were raised in. The percentage of Singaporeans who say they are Buddhists or followers of Chinese traditional religions has dropped, while those claiming to be Christians or religiously unaffiliated have risen.

By contrast, in the five neighboring nations included in the study—Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka—nearly all adults surveyed said they continue to identify with the religion in which they were raised. And large majorities consider religion very important in their lives.

For Pew’s latest international report, “Buddhism, Islam and Religious Pluralism in South and Southeast Asia,” researchers surveyed more than 13,000 adults from June to September 2022. The six countries Pew selected are representative of religion in the region: Three are majority Buddhist (Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand); two are majority Muslim (Malaysia and Indonesia); and one is religiously diverse (Singapore).

(Researchers explained that though Sri Lanka is typically grouped with South Asia, the island nation was included because of its ties to Southeast Asia. For example, Buddhists in Sri Lanka predominantly follow the Theravada tradition like in the other majority-Buddhist countries in the study. In addition, while Laos and Myanmar are also neighboring Southeast Asian nations with Theravada Buddhist majorities, their political realities prevented reliable surveying on religious topics.)

The report covers topics ranging from how religion is tied to national identity, the role of religion in government, the attitudes people in South and Southeast Asia have toward other religions, as well as cross-religious practices.

When religion is more than a religion

With the exception of Singapore, all the countries surveyed are highly religious: Nearly all respondents across five nations identified with a religious group, and a majority—including 98 percent in Indonesia and 92 percent in Sri Lanka—said religion is very important in their lives. In Singapore, while only 36 percent said religion was very important, 87 percent still said they believed in God or unseen beings, according to the Pew report.

This is further encapsulated in how religion is viewed as part of national identity. In Thailand, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, more than 90 percent of Buddhist respondents say that “being Buddhist is important to being truly part of their nation.” In Cambodia, the percentage was 97 percent. This tracks with missionaries to those countries, who say their biggest struggle is combating ideas such as “to be Thai is to be Buddhist.”

In addition, Buddhism is considered more than just a religion. “The vast majority of Buddhists in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand not only describe Buddhism as ‘a religion one chooses to follow’ but also say Buddhism is ‘a culture one is part of’ and ‘a family tradition one must follow,’” stated the Pew researchers. Most Buddhists, including 84 percent of Thai Buddhists, also see Buddhism as “an ethnicity one is born into.”

TELEVISION127 Sponsors Quit “Donahue”A Fort Worth, Texas, dentist is spending his spare time drilling Phil Donahue. Richard B. Neill has convinced 127 sponsors to stop advertising on the syndicated talk show since beginning a one-man crusade last April.Hoping to shield his six-year-old daughter from group-sex proponents, mother-daughter stripper teams, and homosexual “marriages,” Neill circulated petitions to Forth Worth-area churches demanding the local affiliate move “Donahue” from its 9 A.M. slot to after 11 P.M. Despite 9,000 signatures, the station was unmoved. So Neill began targeting the sponsors.“Many of these [advertising] executives are family people—they don’t have any idea what they’re advertising on,” says Neill, 36. Among the nationwide sponsors to stop advertising on the show are General Mills, Revlon, Woolworth, Baskin-Robbins, and Johnson’s Wax.“I do not apologize for a moment for any programs,” Donahue said in an interview published in Focus on the Family’s Citizen.Meanwhile, Neill says, “I’d love to have him off the air, but I don’t think that’s realistic. The key is getting people to write letters. Sponsors are the Achilles’ heel of the television industry.”Robert C. Turner, president of Multimedia Entertainment, which distributes “Donahue,” says the program does not “titillate” or amuse by “innuendo, smut, and exploitation.” He says Neill’s boycott has not hurt the “Donahue” show in advertising or audience ratings.LAWSUITPTL Partners Lose Yet AgainFormer PTL supporters who paid large sums of money to become “lifetime partners” at televangelist Jim Bakker’s Heritage USA may never collect on the multi-million-dollar fraud judgment handed down against Bakker. The U.S. Supreme Court has left intact a decision that said PTL’s insurance policy was not liable for paying the partners back.In civil proceedings, the bilked PTL investors had been awarded nearly 0 million. However, Bakker’s liquidated assets failed to cover the award. Now the high court has let stand a federal court’s decision that said PTL’s insurance policy against “negligent misstatement” did not cover Bakker’s fraud.Some 150,000 people paid about ,000 each to become lifetime partners in PTL. Bakker was convicted in 1989 for cheating investors out of more than 0 million in his South Carolina retreat and Christian theme park.HOMOSEXUALITYChurches Defy Rules on HomosexualsSan Francisco churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) are making no secret of their opposition to their denominations’ stances on homosexuality.Dolores Street Baptist Church severed ties with the SBC effective January 10, citing recent SBC action against churches that affirm homosexual lifestyles. Last year the SBC disfellowshiped two North Carolina churches—one that licensed a homosexual to the ministry and another that performed a marriage-like ceremony for two men. The SBC also amended its constitution to bar churches that affirm homosexual lifestyles. Churches in Houston and Washington, D.C., also have quit the SBC because of its newly articulated stance on homosexuality.First United Lutheran Church, however, is not giving up on its denomination quite so easily.In January, the 60-member congregation installed Jeff R. Johnson, who is openly homosexual, to serve as senior pastor. The move does not sit well with the church’s denomination, the ELCA, which bars practicing homosexuals from ordained ministry.An ELCA court earlier suspended First United when it and its sister congregation, Saint Francis Church, installed Johnson and two lesbian colleagues to staff positions. The court gave the churches until the end of 1995 to discharge the three controversial staff members or be expelled.Michael Cooper-White, an associate of Bishop Lyle G. Miller, whose synod includes San Francisco, says by its move the congregation is signaling its clear intention to disregard the deadline.If they are expelled, First Lutheran and Saint Francis would be the first since ELCA’s founding in 1988. Several San Francisco ELCA churches intend to continue to embrace the church even if it is expelled from the denomination.UPDATESamaritan’s Purse Rejoins ECFAOnce again Samaritan’s Purse (SP) and World Medical Missions (WMM) are members in good standing with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).ECFA suspended the ministries last March, citing concerns over board oversight (CT, Aug. 17, 1992, p. 47), and later rejected the groups’ June reapplication for membership, SP and WMM are headed by Franklin Graham.ECFA president Clarence Reimer said both ministries “have represented to ECFA that all matters giving rise to the suspension of their membership have been addressed.”The groups were asked for further information on the cost of fund raising as a percentage of income; board approval for Graham’s involvement in a particular charity event; and explanation of advance budgeting procedures. After receiving that information, ECFA accepted the application the groups submitted in June.PEOPLE AND EVENTSBriefly NotedFormer Vice-president Dan Quayle has secured a seven-figure sum for his account of his White House years. His memoir, to be copublished by HarperCollins and Zondervan, will describe how his family’s religious faith helped them endure harsh public scrutiny.• For every two churches started in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), one disbands, reverts to mission status, or for some other reason ceases to be a church, says a study by the SBC’s Home Mission Board. During the past 19 years, Southern Baptists averaged 430 church starts annually; an average of 233 churches were removed from association rolls each year. On average, all Protestant denominations lose the same percentage of churches each year, explains church consultant Lyle Schaller.• Church leaders in Florida are relieved that arsonist Patrick Lee Frank, who confessed to torching 17 churches there, was found innocent by reason of insanity and will be confined to a mental institution. Walter Horlander, executive director of the Gainesville-based council of churches, said, “We were very relieved in the way the court ruled. It means he will be institutionalized for life and treated.”• Authorities at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will not bring heresy charges against controversial ethics professor Paul Simmons after all. Simmons had been under fire for five years because of his views on homosexuality and abortion (CT, Feb. 8, 1993, p. 55). But he resigned in January after several students complained when he showed a video on the possibility of sexual relationships for victims of spinal injuries. The video was part of coursework on pastoral care. Simmons says he told students viewing was optional.• Two groups within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have united to form the National Hispanic Presbyterian Caucus. The group will have permanent committees on congregational ministries, social-justice advocacy, and networking and communications.• Now you too can walk through the “newly created universe,” “the Garden of Eden,” and even the “regime of sin and death,” at the Institute for Creation Research’s recently opened 4,000-square-foot Museum of Creation and Earth History in San Diego.• Paige Comstock Cunningham has replaced Guy Condon as president of Americans United for Life (AUL), a Chicago-based legal and educational prolife organization. Born in Brazil and raised in Latin America, Cunningham has been at AUL for 12 years.• Howard W. Ferrin, chancellor emeritus of the United College of Gordon and Barrington and former president of Barrington College, died in January after a long illness.AWARDColson Wins Templeton PrizeThe 1993 winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion is Charles Colson, president of Prison Fellowship. Investor John Marks Templeton created the prize in 1972 to honor those who advance the world’s understanding of religion—an area he felt the Nobel Prizes failed to recognize. To underscore the point, Templeton stipulated that the monetary value always be larger than the Nobel’s. This year’s prize is £650,000 sterling—just under ,000,000.“When I first learned of this award,” Colson said, “I was driven to my knees, humbled and grateful to the Lord.”Colson said the funds would be used to further the work of his prison ministry.Past Templeton Prize winners include Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and in 1992, Kyung-Chik Han, founder of the world’s largest Presbyterian church.COURTSChurch Ordered to Return GiftBruce and Nancy Young of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, are devout Christians who continued to tithe after their electrical contracting business went bankrupt.But a federal judge ruled that the couple’s 1990 contributions to the Crystal Evangelical Free Church of New Hope, Minnesota—nearly ,500—amounted to a “fraudulent transfer” and ordered the church to surrender thousands of dollars given by the Youngs.William Sisterson, executive pastor of Crystal Free, said his congregation has the choice of paying the money or appealing the decision by mid-March. He said the congregation’s board has voted to appeal because of important issues involved, such as “the increasing intrusion by the state into the affairs of the church.”It would have been more cost effective to have settled out of court early on, Sister-son said, but the board believed the case should be pursued because of the important principle involved.Legally, the Youngs may keep buying food and other necessities, but they are otherwise supposed to conserve their resources for creditors.

In Cambodia, Sarah Ardu, a missionary who has served in the country for 25 years, observes the impact of the close tie between being Buddhist and being Cambodian. While young people are the easiest to attract to Christianity, when they grow up, “a large number of them revert to being ‘real Cambodians’ and uphold the normal Cambodian Buddhist way of life.” At the same time, the vast majority of Cambodians “will not be willing to give Jesus a try because of the cultural barrier of Westernized Christian religion.” She believes that the way the gospel is being shared in Cambodia is not having a long-term impact on Cambodian Buddhists, because Western culture has become entangled with the gospel message.

“By making separation from their perception of Cambodian identity an essential part of following Jesus, we have sown the seeds of a gospel that is powerless to transform the deepest levels of life, family, and culture,” Ardu said.

Instead, missionaries need to turn from what is considered “correct Christian observance” to completely depend on Jesus and engage with Cambodian Buddhists at a heart level. Then, they can “stand in awe as the Holy Spirit brings [Cambodians] revelation and transformation without forcing conformity to Westernized Christian religion.”

Because religion and national identity are so closely linked, a majority of Buddhists in Cambodia, Sir Lanka, and Thailand also favor basing national law on Buddhist dharma, “a wide-ranging concept that includes the knowledge, doctrines, and practices stemming from Buddha’s teachings,” Pew noted. Yet the level of support varies: 96 percent of Cambodian Buddhists favor this, compared to 80 percent of Sri Lankan Buddhists and 56 percent of Thai Buddhists.

In Cambodia, the constitution states that Buddhism is the national religion and its government supports Buddhist schools. (Cambodia and Bhutan are the world’s only two countries to have Buddhism as their official religion.) In Sri Lanka, the constitution calls for its government to “protect and foster” Buddhism, giving it the “foremost place.” In Thailand, the constitution requires its government to “have measures and mechanisms to prevent Buddhism from being undermined in any form.”

Meanwhile, Muslims in Southeast Asia similarly see Islam as intrinsically linked to their national identity. Nearly all adherents in Indonesia and Malaysia say being Muslim is important to being truly Indonesian or Malaysian, and three-quarters or more view Islam as a culture, a family tradition, or an ethnicity.

A former KKK bomber, now a church pastor, finds that many racial barriers still exist.In 1967, J. Edgar Hoover ordered FBI agents to Mississippi in an all-out search for a Ku Klux Klan member of the notorious “White Knights,” who were bombing Jewish synagogues.The hunt ended a year later after a car chase and shootout left one woman dead, a police officer seriously wounded, and the bomber lying in his own blood after absorbing four shotgun blasts at close range. Few gave Tom Tarrants, who had been caught carrying a bomb to a Jewish businessman and civil-rights leader’s house, a chance to live. But the man an FBI agent once called a “mad-dog killer” not only lived, he later became a Christian with a message to the church about racism.Tarrants now serves as copastor of an interracial church in Washingon, D.C. Tarrants’s life is receiving national attention through a book by journalist Jack Nelson, Terror in the Night: The Klan’s Campaign Against the Jews.In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Tarrants discussed his views on racism in the church:What are you and your school for urban mission doing to reach across racial barriers?We have a student program of 15 semester hours, which has 9 hours of academic and 6 hours of internship. We plug our students into ministries around the city where they get hands-on exposure. Some work with tutoring programs with inner-city kids.Our academic courses for the student interns focus on discipleship and disciple making, spiritual disciplines, and urban mission. We have a solid spiritual foundation.Are white Christians concerned about racial tensions?Whites for the most part do not really seem to be concerned about the racial issue in church. It seldom comes up. I’m not aware of a widespread move in the churches to reach out across social and cultural barriers, although there are some exceptions.Priorities are placed elsewhere. An evangelical congregation, for example, may see evangelism as a great priority. Whereas something like reconciliation and presenting a unified front to a community doesn’t seem very significant. There’s a failure to understand the implications of reconciliation with God and with one another, and the way that witnesses to a watching world.How do attitudes about race within the black churches compare with those attitudes in white churches?From what I’ve seen of black churches, and from what I know of black pastors, the black churches are not any more interested in integration than white churches. And I have good relationships with black pastors and leaders.They don’t want a bunch of white folks coming in and telling them how to do things. White people do that because they think they’ve got all the answers. Where there’s a mix, it can become a threat to the black pastor to have white folks coming in with all their high-powered ideas.What significance do the Los Angeles riots have?Your average black person does not feel like he has made a great deal of progress in terms of civil rights and getting into the mainstream of American life. He still feels like he is on the periphery.The vast majority of blacks are outside the economic mainstream, and they don’t feel like there’s any hope. They have heard all these promises of the 1960s and the Great Society. This time around there is less reason to trust the government.How close are we to seeing the L.A. riots repeated in other major cities?There’s an awful lot of bitterness, frustration, and lack of hope. The people who have no stake in anything—no home ownership, no job, and [who are] dependent on welfare—are especially volatile. We could see riots in many big cities like the Los Angeles riots.This is one area where the church could lead the way in bringing reconciliation.By Carey Kinsolving.

Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, and today the country practices a dual legal system of civil and sharia courts, with the latter only pertaining to Muslims and covering family and personal law. According to the Pew study, 86 percent of Malaysian Muslims support making sharia the basis of national law.

In Indonesia, where Islam is explicitly favored but is not the official religion, 64 percent of Indonesian Muslims say sharia should be used as the national law. Today Indonesia practices a “mild secularism,” according to Pew researchers, and its constitution states the archipelago is “based on the belief of the One and Only God.”

Hoon Chang Yau, a professor of anthropology at the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, said Pew’s findings on Indonesia track with the conservative shift the country has undergone in the last two decades. “Due to the process of Islamization, Indonesian Islam no longer exhibits a ‘smiling’ or tolerant façade,” Hoon said. “This is concerning because such intolerance often translates into legislation, such as Sharia bylaws or regulations that limit the freedom and development of minority religions.”

It also raises the question of whether minority religions, such as Christianity, are seen as compatible with each Asian nation’s culture and values.

Cambodians are the least likely to be pluralistic, with only 44 percent saying Christianity is compatible with their country’s culture and values. By comparison, 60 percent of Indonesians, 65 percent of Malaysians, 68 percent of Sri Lankans, 73 percent of Thais, and 89 percent of Singaporeans say Christianity is compatible with local culture and values.

Seree Lorgunpai, former general secretary of the Thailand Bible Society, is encouraged by the high percentage of Thais who feel that Christianity has a place within Thai society. He believes that for Christianity to grow in his country, Christians need to reach out to children and young people as it takes time to see the fruit. “To share the Good News, we should not only share the message, but we should show them what we teach.”

A former KKK bomber, now a church pastor, finds that many racial barriers still exist.In 1967, J. Edgar Hoover ordered FBI agents to Mississippi in an all-out search for a Ku Klux Klan member of the notorious “White Knights,” who were bombing Jewish synagogues.The hunt ended a year later after a car chase and shootout left one woman dead, a police officer seriously wounded, and the bomber lying in his own blood after absorbing four shotgun blasts at close range. Few gave Tom Tarrants, who had been caught carrying a bomb to a Jewish businessman and civil-rights leader’s house, a chance to live. But the man an FBI agent once called a “mad-dog killer” not only lived, he later became a Christian with a message to the church about racism.Tarrants now serves as copastor of an interracial church in Washingon, D.C. Tarrants’s life is receiving national attention through a book by journalist Jack Nelson, Terror in the Night: The Klan’s Campaign Against the Jews.In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Tarrants discussed his views on racism in the church:What are you and your school for urban mission doing to reach across racial barriers?We have a student program of 15 semester hours, which has 9 hours of academic and 6 hours of internship. We plug our students into ministries around the city where they get hands-on exposure. Some work with tutoring programs with inner-city kids.Our academic courses for the student interns focus on discipleship and disciple making, spiritual disciplines, and urban mission. We have a solid spiritual foundation.Are white Christians concerned about racial tensions?Whites for the most part do not really seem to be concerned about the racial issue in church. It seldom comes up. I’m not aware of a widespread move in the churches to reach out across social and cultural barriers, although there are some exceptions.Priorities are placed elsewhere. An evangelical congregation, for example, may see evangelism as a great priority. Whereas something like reconciliation and presenting a unified front to a community doesn’t seem very significant. There’s a failure to understand the implications of reconciliation with God and with one another, and the way that witnesses to a watching world.How do attitudes about race within the black churches compare with those attitudes in white churches?From what I’ve seen of black churches, and from what I know of black pastors, the black churches are not any more interested in integration than white churches. And I have good relationships with black pastors and leaders.They don’t want a bunch of white folks coming in and telling them how to do things. White people do that because they think they’ve got all the answers. Where there’s a mix, it can become a threat to the black pastor to have white folks coming in with all their high-powered ideas.What significance do the Los Angeles riots have?Your average black person does not feel like he has made a great deal of progress in terms of civil rights and getting into the mainstream of American life. He still feels like he is on the periphery.The vast majority of blacks are outside the economic mainstream, and they don’t feel like there’s any hope. They have heard all these promises of the 1960s and the Great Society. This time around there is less reason to trust the government.How close are we to seeing the L.A. riots repeated in other major cities?There’s an awful lot of bitterness, frustration, and lack of hope. The people who have no stake in anything—no home ownership, no job, and [who are] dependent on welfare—are especially volatile. We could see riots in many big cities like the Los Angeles riots.This is one area where the church could lead the way in bringing reconciliation.By Carey Kinsolving.

Conversely, many see the growth of Christians as a threat to Islam or Buddhism in their country, including 31 percent of Cambodian Buddhists, 35 percent of Indonesian Muslims, 47 percent of Sri Lankan Buddhists, and 52 percent of Malaysian Muslims. However, in each nation, a larger share of Muslims and Buddhists see extremism within their own faiths as a threat.

Egyptian Christians are open targets for attack as radical groups advocate discrimination, bigotry, and violence.In Egypt, the Islamic fundamentalist movement has been growing for 20 years, leaving in its turbulent wake many victims among the state security apparatus, vocal secularists, and advocates for moderation within the government. Yet it is Coptic Christians who are increasingly the focus of violent attacks, religious bigotry, and blatant discrimination.Ethnic Copts are descendants of the indigenous inhabitants of the Nile Valley, before the Muslim conquest of A.D. 642. Copts are traditionally Christian, and the largest Christian group, the 5 million-member Coptic Orthodox Church, which represents 10 percent of Egypt’s population, traces its traditions to the gospel writer Saint Mark in the first century.“Islamic extremists killed at least 27 Copts, robbed and murdered Coptic shopowners and burned scores of Copt-owned properties, including several churches,” the U.S. State Department noted in its 1992 human-rights report on Egypt. “The government does not always prevent attacks and does little to correct nonviolent forms of discrimination—including its own.”Copts driven outThe new “Islamized climate,” contends Rifaat Said, chairman of the Egyptian Committee for National Unity and secretary-general of the opposition Tagammu party, is primarily the result of intentional policies of the government in its formal dealings with the Copts.The elimination of Copts from high-level posts in the government, security police, diplomatic corps, military, and the public sector was among the offenses Said enumerated.At the same time, while extremists continue to burn churches and shops owned by Christians, the government still requires a presidential decree in order to build or even repair a church. Reportedly, Prime Minister Atef Sidky promised Coptic Orthodox officials the coveted permit for their Shandawil, Sohag, church. Yet, three years later, they are still waiting.On the harsher side, Islamic militants are specifically targeting Egyptian Christians and intellectuals for “deliberate extermination,” according to a September 1992 report by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR).Violent assaultsNowhere has this vicious method been clearer than in the province of Asyut, where Coptic victims, including children, have been murdered. On April 14, 1992, Badr Abdullah, 41, was killed in the daytime on the streets of Asyut.On different occasions, three individuals were beaten with iron bars in Manshiyat Nasr, Deirut. The perpetrators purposely broke both legs and the right arm, leaving compound fractures. Much of the blame for these attacks is leveled at groups such as the militant Islamic group al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya.Last May, 13 Copts were massacred in Deirut, a pastoral town of Asyut. Some had refused to pay the “protection money” demanded by Muslim militants, and some were simply Christians, according to village spokesman Riyad Masood.Subsequently, the EOHR issued a press release stating it had sent urgent warnings to the Interior Ministry, imploring immediate intervention in Deirut. Because their warnings went unheeded, the EOHR declared the government an accomplice to the crime.Attacks on touristsWhen al-Gamma al-Islamiyya militants began last fall to target foreign tourists—causing an alarming dip in Egypt’s lucrative tourism industry—the government began labeling the “militant Muslim” antagonists as “terrorists.” Interior Minister Abdul Halim Moussa’s decision to uproot them has led to hundreds of arrests since November in the Asyut region as well as the huge Ibaba slum district of Cairo.Now, a nervous peace reigns along the 100-kilometer stretch from Minya to Asyut and in Imbaba. Both areas are patrolled by heavily armed security police. “This is a temporary quiet,” said Yousuf Naim of the Church of God in Manshiyat Nasr, “while they regroup to strike again.”The villagers’ lingering fears are not unfounded. On January 4, a village mayor, Isaac Ibrahim Hanna, was shot to death by militants in front of his home in nearby Hanna township. On the same day, human-rights lawyer Fikri Habib confirmed reports that two Coptic pharmacists in the same township were wounded by hand grenades thrown into their pharmacies.“The police are doing all they can,” said Masood, “but they can’t protect us in the fields or the back streets.”Climate of extremismEven so, for most the distinction between government-sponsored extremism and that of the “terrorists” remains blurred. Moderate Muslim intellectuals and Christians agree that the “extremist climate” has virtually taken control of Egyptian television and radio, as well as the school system.According to Said, the “Islamized” groups have infiltrated the ranks of educational institutions, focusing especially on Dar al-Ulum, which provides the schools with Arabic instructors, who also teach the required religion class to Muslims.Antoun Sidhom, publisher of Watani, a Christian weekly, claims the exam for students in the Arabic language class includes the question: “What do you do when you get up in the morning?”Sidhom said the officially correct answer is: “I recite the Qur’an.” But if Coptic children answer that they do not recite the Qur’an, he said, “they are marked as having failed the question.”Christianity defamedReferring to the state-controlled media, one senior official of the Coptic Orthodox Church remarked, “Christianity is defamed on prime-time television, and we have no means of responding. They always quote Qur’anic texts like ‘The religion of God is Islam,’ ” he said, “instead of ones like ‘The people of the Book [Bible] are the closest people to you [Muslims].’ ”Imbaba Christians report that despite the recent roundup of Islamic extremists, local mosques are still leading their believers in chants against Christianity, all broadcast on the streets within earshot of government troops: “O God, may you bring their houses to ruin.” “Amen.” “O God, make their children orphans.” “Amen.”According to Chief Justice Said Al-Ashmawy, by law any Muslim who converts to another religion is to have his wife, children, and inheritance taken away.“Christianity without the cross isn’t Christianity,” Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church said regarding how the church is responding to the mounting persecution. In effect, any efforts by the church to seek justice and protection from the state seem to be fruitless. But as moderate leader Said wrote a few weeks earlier in the opposition weekly Al-Ahali, all Egyptians must put a stop to the divisive policies of discrimination “before Egypt breaks apart.”By Warren Cofsky,News Network International in Cairo.

Singapore’s religious diversity

In Singapore, where no one faith makes up the majority, Pew found that 9 in 10 adults say Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Chinese traditional religions are all compatible with the city-state’s culture and values.

Based on the 2020 national census, 31 percent of Singaporeans identify as Buddhist, 20 percent claim no religion, 19 percent are Christians, 15 percent are Muslim, and the remaining 15 percent include Hindus, Sikhs, Taoists, and followers of Chinese traditional religions.

Christianity in Singapore has nearly doubled since 1980, while the religiously unaffiliated has also grown from 13 percent to 20 percent. Buddhism grew from 27 percent in 1980 to 42 percent in 2000 before dropping back down to 31 percent. Followers of Chinese traditional religion dropped from 30 percent in 1980 to 9 percent today.

Singapore’s “religious switching” also makes it unique. Only 64 percent of Singaporeans identify with the religion in which they were raised. In the other five countries surveyed, at least 95 percent of adults still identify with the religion in which they were raised. “Consequently, the share of people raised in each religion roughly matches the share who identify with that religion today,” Pew said.

In Singapore, while 32 percent of adults say they were raised Buddhist, only 26 percent identify as Buddhist today. Converting to another religion is also more welcomed among Singaporean Buddhists: Only 36 percent of the group believe it’s unacceptable to leave their religion for another. In comparison, 82 percent of Buddhists in Cambodia believe conversion is unacceptable, Pew found.

The percent of Singaporeans who identify as Christians today is 17 percent, while only 11 percent were raised Christian. The number of Singaporeans who say they are religiously unaffiliated today is 22 percent, while only 13 percent said they were raised with no religion.

A closer look at the data shows that these gaps between those raised in a religion and those who currently practice it don’t reveal the whole story, Pew noted. While 13 percent of adults raised Buddhist no longer identify with the religion, 7 percent of Singaporeans who were not raised in a Buddhist household now practice the religion. And while 9 percent of Singaporeans who were raised in a different religion or no religion now identify as Christian, 3 percent of people who were raised as Christians now identify with another religion.

Today only two-thirds of Buddhist parents in Singapore say they are raising their children in their faith (a quarter are raising them with no religion). In contrast, 90 percent of Christian parents in Singapore are raising their children in their faith. In other countries, “virtually all parents report that they are raising their children with a religious identity that matches their own,” stated Pew researchers.

Even though Singapore’s “nones” are an anomaly in the region, a majority still hold on to religious beliefs: 62 percent believe in God or unseen beings; 65 percent say they think karma exists; 43 percent say a person can feel the presence of a deceased family member; and 39 percent burn incense.

Roland Chia, the Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine at Trinity Theological College in Singapore, noted Pew’s findings that among religiously unaffiliated Singaporeans who feel personally connected to Christianity, 38 percent pray or offer respect to Jesus. It’s a sign that “disassociation with organized religion or religious institutions does not imply the full embrace of the secular mindset or worldview,” Chia said.

For Christians trying to reach this group, it’s important to try to understand their backgrounds and concerns, especially if they have left the church, he said. “However, the fact that many of those who identify as religiously unaffiliated are still pursuing some form of spirituality and nominally accept the core beliefs of Christianity—such as praying to Jesus Christ—serves as an important contact point for Christian witness,” Chia noted.

Overlapping religious practices

It’s not just the “nones” who are defying labels in their beliefs. Pew’s survey found that people of different religions believed in concepts or prayed to deities or founding figures of other religions.

For instance, three-quarters or more of adults in all six countries believe in karma, the idea that people will reap benefits for their good deeds and pay the price for bad deeds. That includes more than 60 percent of Christians in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Singapore’s Christians are the only religious group where less than half of adults (46%) believe in karma, Pew found.

Mathew Mathews, head of the Institute of Policy Studies’ Social Lab, found it surprising that so many Singaporean Christians would believe in karma, “especially when Christianity in Singapore is fairly conservative and many Christian churches are very hesitant to support syncretism of any kind.” He added that some Christians may have understood karma as the concept of “you reap what you sow,” without the notion of reincarnation.

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Compared to Christians in the other countries, Sri Lankan Christians are most likely to pray or offer respects (which could include burning incense, making food offerings, or making wishes) to a deity of another religion. The survey found that 61 percent of Sri Lanka’s Christians do so to Buddha, 58 percent to protector spirits or guardian deities, 41 percent to Allah, and 48 percent to the Hindu god Ganesh.

In contrast in Malaysia and Singapore, about 1 in 10 Christians pay respects to Guanyin, a Bodhisattva Buddhist believed to aid the suffering.

Ivor Poobalan, president of Colombo Theological Seminary in Sri Lanka, found this contrary to his own observations, noting that Christians in both traditional churches and younger denominations generally hold to a high view of Jesus’ unique claims as Lord and Savior.

“I find it well-nigh impossible to understand how the report could have arrived at the statistic that 61 percent of Christians worship the Buddha,” he said. “While much smaller numbers could reasonably be said to practice some form of syncretism due to marriage or other social pressures, the vast majority are marked by a strong sense of religious identity, which includes an exclusive allegiance or devotion to the Christian/Catholic faith.”

He believes the Pew’s finding that 71 percent of Muslims worship or pay respect to Buddha even more unlikely.

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The Pew report also found that a majority of Sri Lanka’s Christians have an altar or shrine in their home and burn incense. A little less than half of the country’s Christians say they practice meditation, which is higher than Christians in other countries.

The survey also found that among Christians, about half of the believers in Indonesia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka believe Christianity is the only true religion, while only 37 percent of Malaysians agree with that statement.

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Christians in these countries were split on whether a person could be a Christian and celebrate the Buddhist festival of Vesak or the Muslim festival of Eid. Most Christians in Indonesia (63%) and a third in Malaysia (35%) said a person cannot be a Christian if they celebrate Eid, while half of Christians in Singapore (50%) and a large number in Sri Lanka (38%) said the same about Vesak.

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Across all religions, majorities agreed that a person could not be a member of their religion if they disrespect their elders or their countries.

On the topic of drinking alcohol, the region’s Christians were much more split. While 74 percent of Christians in Indonesia see drinking as disqualification from Christianity, the number drops to 62 percent in Malaysia, 60 percent in Sri Lanka, and only 18 percent in Singapore.

Religion-state integrationists less willing to accept Christian neighbors

In the surveyed countries with Buddhist or Muslim majorities, people who say it is very important to be a member of their religious group to truly share their national identity and want their country’s laws to be based on their religion were categorized by Pew as “religion-state integrationists.” They are more likely to support religious leaders becoming politicians, think religious leaders should talk about the politicians they support, and believe that if a person does not respect their country, they can’t be part of the religion.

“A majority of Muslims in Indonesia (57%) and Malaysia (69%) are religion-state integrationists, as are most Buddhists in Sri Lanka (72%) and Cambodia (75%),” the report noted. “A sizable minority of Thai Buddhists (45%) also fall into this category.”

Poobalan said the high percentage of Sri Lankan Buddhists who fall into this category is concerning. “It is this mentality that made post-independence Sri Lanka inhospitable to religious and ethnic minorities and created tensions and the likelihood of conflict between religious communities,” he noted.

Religion-state integrationists are also less likely to accept Christian neighbors. The Indonesian Muslims who fall in that category are less likely to say Christianity is compatible with Indonesian culture and values (53% versus 63%). They are also less willing to accept Christian neighbors (64% versus 77%).

“Buddhist nationalism has been linked with antagonism and violence between Buddhists and religious minorities in countries dominated by Theravada Buddhism, including during the Sri Lankan civil war,” stated Pew researchers. “Similarly, some scholars have asserted that there is a connection between rising ‘religious nationalism’ and xenophobia in Muslim-majority Indonesia.”

Religion-state integrationists are also more likely to see the growth of Christianity in their country as a threat to the majority religion. Most significantly, Sri Lankan Buddhists who fall under the term are more likely to view Christian growth as a threat compared to other local Buddhists (51% versus 37%). However, Sri Lankan Buddhists are more inclined to see Muslim growth as a threat to Buddhism in their nation.

Faced with mounting costs and tighter budgets, administrators of prisons across America are cutting back on chaplains.“At many prisons, when things get tight, chaplains are the first thing to go,” said Bryn Carlson, vice-president of the American Correctional Chaplains Association (ACCA).“We’re in a code-yellow situation, and it’s going into the red zone.”Carlson knows what he is talking about. In his home of Georgia, the state let go all its chaplains, then rehired most of them on a contract basis, which means chaplains now work without the job security or benefits of full-time employment.But Georgia is not the only state where chaplains are being cut. Consider:• In 1991, the Dallas County (Tex.) jails cut all chaplain positions. Now the county’s 6,000 prisoners have no full-time paid chaplains, says Barbara Hart Siekman, who served at the Dallas jails as a chaplain for 19 years and is the immediate past-president of the ACCA, which has 450 member chaplains.• In Colorado, two full-time equivalent-contract chaplains were let go, leaving 13 chaplains to serve the state’s 7,500 prisoners.• And in California and New York, there have been big cuts in the number of chaplains serving juvenile offenders—a group of prisoners very likely to benefit from the potentially life-changing work chaplains do.Charles Grimm is regional director of the New York State Division for Youth, which is responsible for about 2,000 New York youths 16 years old and younger who have gotten into serious legal, criminal, or other trouble.Grimm, a United Methodist chaplain, served as a chaplain from 1971 to 1991, when he was laid off along with all of the state’s other youth chaplains. The layoff was designed to save money and get volunteers involved.Grimm and two others were eventually rehired to supervise the volunteers. He and the two other regional representatives are now responsible for supervising volunteers at about five facilities each.Grimm frankly laments that “there has never really been any real concern about youth, in terms of supplying paid chaplains in the facilities throughout the state.“These kids who are in trouble, they are the ones that the community has not been able to integrate. The community agencies have failed with these kids. The judges throw up their hands and say, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’ ”The cuts worry prisoners as well as chaplains. Larry Perkins, who is serving a term for beating and robbing a passenger in his taxi, says the disappearance of Chaplain Allen Davis at the Skyline Correctional Facility in southern Colorado has hurt Perkins’s spiritual development.“Allen Davis treated you as a man, not as an inmate,” says Perkins, who was imprisoned once before as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “When he’s not around, I hold everything in.”Some administrators are also concerned about cutting chaplaincy budgets.“I’m not even a very religious person, but I believe very strongly that the chaplain program is very important to our facilities,” says warden R. Mark McGoff of the Colorado Women’s Correctional Facility. “Chaplains help prisoners sort out a lot of things about themselves in a practical way, and no other program inside the prison does that in a broad way.”McGoff and others say that part of the reason for cuts in chaplains is chaplains’ own poor communication about their impact. Admits the ACCA’s Carlson, “We have not done a very good job of selling our story.”For instance, many know that chaplains officiate at prison religious events and pray with prisoners. But they also notify prisoners of deaths or crises in their immediate families, and they help prepare prisoners for their transition back into everyday life.Carlson says chaplains get failing grades for public relations. Few chaplains make a point of impressing administrators or politicians with the importance of what they do.

Among Buddhists in Cambodia and Thailand, only 57 percent and 58 percent, respectively, believe Christians are very/somewhat peaceful. Still, majorities in every country said they were willing to accept members of other religions as their neighbors.

In general, the survey found that a majority of Malaysians (62%), Sri Lankans (62%), and Singaporeans (56%) believe having people of different religions, ethnic groups, and cultures makes their country a better place. Half of Indonesians agree with this statement, while 41 percent believe it makes no difference. A majority of Cambodians (54%) and Thais (68%) also agree that it doesn’t make a difference.

Poobalan finds hope in the percentage of Sri Lankan adults who value diversity. “Such a sentiment provides encouragement that, free from the influence of political opportunists, average Sri Lankans greatly appreciate society’s pluralistic nature,” he said. “This shouldn’t be surprising since the country has a recorded history of 2,500 years that stands out for its religious and cultural pluralism and peaceful co-existence of traditions.”

Over in Indonesia, Hoon believes that the diverse environment provides opportunities for Christians to engage in interfaith dialogue and build bridges, while at the same time, they need to assert their constitutional rights to religious freedom. “Everyday life in the neighborhood still involves cross-cultural interactions,” Hoon said. “Therefore it is imperative for Christians to continue fostering such spaces, extending friendship and hospitality to non-Christians to promote goodwill and understanding. This way, during times of social tension, their neighbors will stand up for them.”

Pew’s other interesting findings about Christians in the six countries include:

• Nearly all Indonesian Christians, 93 percent of Sri Lankan Christians, and 78 percent of Malaysian Christians say religion is very important in their lives. Among Singapore’s Christians, that number drops to 61 percent.
• In Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, 74 percent or more of Christians believe Christianity is an ethnicity one is born into. In comparison, only 41 percent of Singaporean Christians believe that.
• While 50 percent of Singaporean Christians see Christianity as a family tradition one must follow, that number is much higher among Christians in Malaysia (74%), Sri Lanka (88%), and Indonesia (92%).
• Nearly half of Christians in all six countries think that spells, curses, or other magic influence people’s lives.
• In Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, 80 percent or more of Christians believe in a Judgment Day, compared to only 48 percent in Sri Lanka.
• While a majority of Christians in Indonesia and Malaysia think religious leaders should talk publicly about the politicians or political parties they support, only a quarter of Christians in Singapore and Sri Lanka agree.
• While most Christians in Indonesia (83%), Sri Lanka (67%), and Malaysia (61%) believe it is “unacceptable” to leave Christianity for another religion, many also believe it is unacceptable to “try to persuade others to join” Christianity—including 72 percent in Indonesia, 75 percent in Malaysia, and 87 percent in Sri Lanka. In Singapore, only about 4 in 10 Christians say either leaving Christianity (42%) or persuading others to become Christians (39%) is unacceptable.

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Do Christians Belong in Southeast Asia? Pew Polled Buddhists and Muslims

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