Abstract

This paper reports a study conducted on 2400 respondents in Malaysia on their tolerance and mutual respect to each other religion. The study is important in order to map the religious tolerance in Malaysia and the findings can be used to plan future action by related authorities. The respondents, males and females of different ethnics, from the age 18 to 45 years old were obtained randomly from all over the country. The respondents were given booklets of questionnaire containing statements provided with responses in the form of Likert type scale i.e. 1. Strongly agree, 2. Agree, 3. Not sure, 4. Disagree, and 5. Strongly disagree. The booklets were collected and the raw data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), to obtain the mean responses, the percentages of the responses. The mean responses were tested using the t-test to know if the difference of mean were significant or not. One data of the responses for the statements “I am prepared to do away with some of the teaching of my religion for the sake of national unity” was analyzed. The findings of the study indicate that the 61.7% of the respondents rejected the statement. On the basis of the religion of the respondents, the rejection of the statements were Muslim 72.1%, Buddhists 35.55, Hindu 33.3% and the Christian 43.2%. There were significant difference between the means response of the respondent base on the religion and the difference of mean were significant. T-test analysis shows that there were significant different between the mean response of the Muslim respondents with the other religious groups.

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