Many Say It’s Important That A Nation's Leader Stand Up For Religious People
NEW YORK — Many people around the world are more likely to say it is important to have political leaders who stand up for people who share their religious beliefs, a new poll released Wednesday reveals.
The survey, conducted by Pew Research Center, found that in countries where faith is “perceived as very important” that people are overall “more likely to value each of these qualities in a leader.”
At the top of the 35-nation list is Indonesia, where 94% of people said religion is very important in their lives. In addition, 86% of those living in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country said it’s important for their president to have strong religious beliefs.
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By contrast, those living in several European and East Asian nations are “less likely to say it’s important for a national leader to stand up for people with their religious beliefs.”
France, Japan and South Korea stand out the most, where about a quarter of adults said this was the case.
At the same time, those living in Sweden are “the least likely to say it is important to have a prime minister who has strong religious beliefs” — where just 6% said it was “important.”
Pew’s findings are compiled from a survey conducted during the first five months of this year and included more than 53,000 respondents.
Where Americans stand
In the United States, 64% said it’s important to have a president who stands up for people who share the respondent’s religious beliefs. Fewer (48%) said it’s important that a president have their own strong religious beliefs — even if the beliefs differ from those of the respondent.
Even fewer Americans (37%) said it is important for a president to have religious beliefs that are the same as those surveyed.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, who are challenging one another in this year’s presidential race, both identify as Christians.
Harris’ mother was Hindu and her father a Christian. She grew up attending services at a Black Baptist church. Trump, who does not attend a church, has drawn much of his support from faith voters who are politically conservative.
President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, attends Mass every Sunday. He is just the second Catholic to be elected to the presidency after John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Southeast Asians want a religious leader
People who say religion is “very important” in their lives are far more likely than other adults to say it’s important for their country’s leader to stand up for people with their religious beliefs.
In Turkey, 86% of adults who said religion is “very important” agreed that their national leader needs to stand up for people with their religious beliefs, compared with 45% for whom religion is “less important.”
Pew researchers found that among Hindus surveyed across several countries, majorities said that all three measures of leaders’ religion-related qualities are important.
For instance, nearly all Hindus living in Bangladesh — a staggering 99%, according to Pew — said it is “important for their prime minister to stand up for people with their religious beliefs.”
Many in neighboring Southeast Asian countries also feel this way, including 81% of adults in India.
Hindu nationalism — once considered a fringe ideology in India — has become mainstream under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of the country’s most beloved and polarizing politicians.
Modi, who has blurred the line between religion and state, has made it increasingly difficult for other religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims, to escape persecution.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.