PAKISTAN: THE SILENT MAJORITY AND THE POTENTIAL TO BE GOOD

We seem never to have developed the mechanism which would allow the growth of an inclusive and diverse society that would celebrate its differences, rather than negatively exploiting them.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Around the net
Source & Credit: The News | Editorial
Monday, January 11, 2010

Moderation lives

The Swiss, those models of rectitude and probity, the neutral heart of Europe, may have a lesson to learn from us. A poll released on January 8 and conducted by the Gilani/Gallup organization reveals that 69 per cent of all Pakistanis believe that Christians in countries where they are a minority among a Muslim majority should have the right to build churches. The remaining 31 per cent either did not support the idea or expressed no opinion.

The poll was conducted in the aftermath of a referendum in Switzerland that vetoed the building of mosques with minarets.

The poll also threw up a number of other interesting insights, at least one of them unexpected. Contrary to common perceptions and frequently expressed stereotypes, the people of NWFP appear to be far more tolerant than elsewhere, and a comforting 81 per cent ‘believe that Christian minorities have a right to worship and the governments of Muslim countries like Pakistan should allow the construction of their churches.’

Polls are one thing, and ground realities another. We cannot know how many of those polled would actively support the building of the places of worship of faiths other than Islam in Pakistan. Nor can we reliably predict what might be the reaction of the 31 per cent who were either opposed or of no expressed opinion. Nor can we tell to what extent the respondents were swayed in their answers by a desire to demonstrate that they were more moderate than the dastardly Swiss – and replied in a manner not truly reflective of their opinions. However, even allowing for unknowns and possible inconsistencies the poll does suggest that we have not become entirely overwhelmed by religious intolerance and that there is still a streak of moderation within us.

It is an indicator that, at heart, a majority of the population is tolerant and moderate. What is missing is a way of channeling that moderation and tolerance, of bringing it into the political and societal mainstream, which is increasingly dominated by violence and division. We seem never to have developed the mechanism which would allow the growth of an inclusive and diverse society that would celebrate its differences, rather than negatively exploiting them. Perhaps the poll offers us the hope that we have the potential to do so and all we await is the leadership and vision to create it. It could be a long wait.



Read here:  Moderation lives