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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Christian views of Muslims changing
By Bong S. Sarmiento
KORONADAL CITY -- Here's good news for Muslims in this largely Catholic society.
A recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that majority of Filipinos now have favorable views of Islam compared to an appraisal made by the same organization in late 2002.
Released on November 13, the latest SWS survey held last Aug 5 to 22 showed that 52 percent of the respondents nationwide have positive views of Islam.
Only 41 percent of the respondents have unfavorable perception toward Islam, the religion embraced by Muslims, when asked the question 'Sa kabuuan, mabuti o hindi mabuti po ba ang inyong pagtingin sa Islam?' (As a whole, do you view Islam as good or not good?)
The latest result is in contrast to the SWS survey conducted on Nov 15-Dec. 2, 2002, where 54 percent were not favorable of Islam.
At the time, only 43 percent say they favor Islam.
In the latest SWS survey, however, 69 percent of the respondents in the Visayas is still indifferent towards Islam.
In Mindanao, where Muslims are largely concentrated, and Luzon, opinions favoring Islam are equal at 56 percent.
But it is in the National Capital Region where Islam gets the highest nod with 66 percent of the respondents in the area viewing the religion positively.
"Religion is not a factor in having a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Islam, as no difference of opinion is recorded among Filipino Catholics and Christians," noted the SWS statement.
Based on the survey, 50 percent of Catholics and 54 percent of other Christian religions have favorable views of Islam.
Despite the common traditions of Islam and Christianity, a large majority (81 percent) say Islam is very different from Christianity, according to the statement, adding that this perception holds true across all areas, economic classes and religion.
Unlike a large majority of Filipinos (81 percent), only 57 percent of the Americans say Islam is different, while 27 percent say otherwise.
The remaining 16 percent do not have enough knowledge to give an opinion.
The US data mentioned came from the July 24, 2003 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report by the Pew Research Center in the United States.
SWS claimed the survey was its own initiative.
The group said they used face-to-face interviews of a national sample of 1,200 representative adults, for an approximate margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level for national-level percentages.
Readers may access the full survey results at www.sws.org.ph.
(November 18, 2004 issue)
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