Factors Influencing Australian Muslims’ Attitudes toward Christian-Muslim Dialogue: The Case of Sunni Muslims of Adelaide and Uniting Church Christians

Since the implementation of a multicultural policy in the 1970s, religious diversity in Australia has increased. Research has demonstrated that intergroup contact is essential for managing diverse multicultural societies. This is because, given the right conditions, intergroup contact will reduce pr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inReligions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 13; no. 9; p. 835
Main Authors MacDonald, Gregory, Abdalla, Mohamad, Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022
Subjects
Adelaide
Attitudes
Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Christian-Muslim relations
Christianity
Christianity and other religions
Christians
dehumanization
Dialogue
Gender
Interfaith dialogue
intergroup contact
Islam
Islamophobia
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Muslims
Public opinion
Religion
Religious aspects
Sunni
Sunnis
Sunnites
Theology
Australia
United Kingdom
South Australia Australia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Since the implementation of a multicultural policy in the 1970s, religious diversity in Australia has increased. Research has demonstrated that intergroup contact is essential for managing diverse multicultural societies. This is because, given the right conditions, intergroup contact will reduce prejudice and build trust between groups. Given the importance of intergroup contact, policy makers and researchers have identified interfaith dialogue’s importance to the success of multicultural societies. However, there is very limited research that explores interfaith dialogue from the perspectives of adherents, in this case Christians and Muslims in the Australian context. This paper focuses on interfaith dialogue between Christians of the Uniting Church and Sunni Muslims of Adelaide, South Australia. It explores the factors that influence participants’ attitudes towards engaging in interfaith dialogue. Using a grounded theory methodology, the study involved seventeen (17) mixed gender Muslim participants over the age of eighteen, including everyday adherents and religious leaders. Some of the key findings demonstrate that theological perspectives and notions of multicultural citizenship are positive drivers for dialogue; Islamophobia and dehumanization of Muslims were inhibitors.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel13090835