Despite most Finns being happy to welcome a member of another religion into their family, the majority hold negative views on Islam, according to new research on social attitudes across the world.
Kimmo Ketola from the Church Research Institution, which carried out the study, said that Finns have a positive view of Hinduism and Buddhism, feel the closest affiliation with Christianity, but have poor impressions of Islam.
Despite witnessing more acceptance of other religions over the past 20 years, the institute concludes that attitudes towards Islam hardened in Finland in the last decade. Ketola claims the trend is due to the way Muslims are portrayed in the media. “There are very few Muslim immigrants in Finland compared to many other European countries. The media can convey an exceedingly harsh and negative picture of Islam,” he said in a report by YLE.
Only four percent of those interviewed, however, said they would be opposed to a family member marrying someone of a different faith. “When Finns were asked whether they’d be ready to accept people of other religions into their family or as representatives of their parties, in this regard Finns were among the least prejudiced of nations,” Ketola said.
Three out of five Finns said that religion is more likely to bring conflict than peace, while four out of five believe people with a strong faith tend to be intolerant. Although the majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 10 percent admitted that they do not believe in God.
The findings have been compared against the 1998 Religion: II survey of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), which canvassed 50,000 people from 34 different countries.
I agree with AC. Islam is a form of insanity. At least as much as gays!
Dear AC,
I love generalizations like you. Things are suddenly so easy. Differentiation is it’s a form of insanity, eh?
Let me try:
The Aborigines let their children walk barefoot on hot sand. They kill animals with spears, do not stun the animals before. And they like to get drunk with fusel, sold from religious whites in their religious delusions. The Aborigines have a psychopathic mass suicide problem.
I´ve read that the politicians say, there can be no other truth than the one he sees.
You have the ability to politicians.
You know, Differentiation is a form of insanity only. You will find comfort, because you stand in front of a glorious future. On which account I can pay a small donation for the construction of a concentration camp? You have been other ideas for solutions?
Teach! People are thirsting for salvation.
[…] Islam a worrying religion for Finns: […]
It’s not a public relations problem which islam has. They have a psychopathic mass murdering problem.
Stop murdering people because they published a cartoon about some fictional ‘religious’ character in a newspaper or magazine.
Islam isn’t a religion; it’s a form of insanity.
“The media can convey an exceedingly harsh and negative picture of Islam” ???
I think it’s Muslims that create the negative image of Islam! Not all of them, but enough of them.