Demographics and Religious Tolerance Among Youth: Moderating Role of Education

Abstract

In this religiously diverse world, for a secure and conflict-free society, religious tolerance is an important phenomenon to prevail. Since youth of a nation serves as a powerful weapon to build a prosperous and peaceful society. The present research work attempted to explore the role of demographic characteristics of youth of Pakistan in religious tolerance. A cross-sectional survey was conducted, and data was collected from (N = 1651) young adults with range 18-35 years with the mean of 22.60 including boys (n = 667) and girls (n = 984) of four different cities of Pakistan. A multistage stratified sampling technique was used to collect data. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis indicated the significant and strong roles of attachment to sects and education in determining the religious tolerance of youth. The findings of the present study are helpful for the stakeholders to formulate policies to enhance the religious tolerance and minimize the negative impact of attachment to sect through education which may lead towards a tolerant environment. These findings can be very insightful for psychologists, sociologists, and religious scholars. The above-mentioned stakeholders can arrange seminars, and workshops to highlight the important factors that could lead to religious tolerance.