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Krischak Muang Nua

Protestant Attitudes Towards Other Faiths

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Edict of Religious Toleration

Regarding of the variables of age (Question 16), gender (Question 17), locality (Question 18), position in the church (Question 19), educational status (Question 20), and whether or not the respondents were born into a Christian home (Question 21) or have non-Christians living in their homes (Question 22), the only variable that shows an important difference is gender. As shown in Table 2, women affirmed the statement that Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings 7.0% more frequently than men.

Table 2
Summary of Frequency Distribution for Question 1 by Gender
Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings

	Total Sample	Women	Men
Disagree	10.2%	7.7%	14.2%
Agree	88.4%	91.0%	84.0%
Number	714	401	282

The only other set of variables that shows much is for whether or not the respondents live in the same home with people of other faiths. Of the respondents, 91.9% of those who have people of other faiths residing in their homes answered in the affirmative, while 86.4% of those who do not answered in the affirmative. The difference is 5.5%. None of the other variables show a difference greater than 5.0%. In sum, the respondents show considerable agreement in their affirmation of Question 1; the only other question that the respondents showed a similar level of unanimity is Question 12.

Question 2

As can be seen in Table 3, 72.8% of the respondents agreed with the belief that Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings. They are, if our assumption is correct, markedly exclusivist in terms of their response to this question.

Table 3
Frequency Distribution for Question 2
Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings

	Number	Valid %
Disagree Entirely	30	4.3%
Disagree	78	11.1%
Disagree Somewhat	51	7.3%
Agree Somewhat	48	6.8%
Agree	259	36.8%
Agree Entirely	205	29.2%
Uncertain	32	4.6%
N = 703

In terms of the variables of age (Question 16), gender (Question 17), locality (Question 18), position in the church (Question 19), educational status (Question 20), and whether or not the respondents were born into a Christian home (Question 21) or have non-Christians living in their homes (Question 22), there is a striking difference between Questions 1 and 2. Where there is a good deal of consistency among all of the variables in Question 1, the responses for Question 2 show considerable variation. The two greatest contrasts are found in terms of church office, shown in Table 4, and educational status, shown in Table 5.

In Table 4, we see that local church elders affirmed the statement that "Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings" considerably more often (82.9%) than did other church officers or the general membership. Pastors disagreed far more often (36.4%) than did other church officers or the general membership. Elders, on the other hand, show a marked tendency towards exclusivism. It is worth noting, however, that the elders in our sample affirmed in Question 1 that "Every religion is able to teach people to be good" to a somewhat higher degree (90.0%) than did pastors (86.4%). That is to say, based on our data here elders display a very strong tendency to affirm both their pluralist and their exclusivist heritages.

Table 4
Summary of Frequency Distribution for Question 2 by Church Office as Valid Percents
Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings

	Total Sample	Pastors	Elders	Deacons	Members
Disagree	22.6%	36.4%	15.3%	23.0%	24.2%
Agree	72.8%	63.6%	82.9%	74.7%	70.2%
Number	703	22	111	87	447

Table 5 shows that respondents with a lower education affirmed the statement in Question 2 much more frequently (82.6%) than did those with a medium education (71.7%) or a higher education (68.2%). Education, thus, seems to be an important factor in increasing the respondents' affirmation of cultural religious attitudes as opposed to those received from the missionary era.

Table 5
Summary of Frequency Distribution for Question 2 by Educational Status
Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings

	Total Sample	Low Education	Medium Education	High Education
Disagree	22.6%	14.4%	23.0%	27.3%
Agree	72.8%	82.6%	71.7%	68.2%
Number	703	167	265	242

Note: Low education includes the first three responses in Question 20; medium education includes responses four, five, and six; and, high education includes the last two responses.

In terms of the other variables, gender made little difference; women responded affirmatively to Question 2 at about the same rate (71.0%) as men (74.2%). Respondents born into Christian families also responded affirmatively to the question at a rate (71.8%) similar to those who are converts to Christianity (74.7%). Interestingly enough, respondents who have Buddhists living in their homes affirmed the idea that "Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings" somewhat higher (76.6%) than did those who have no Buddhists living in their homes (70.7%). One might have expected the opposite to be the case.

Reflections on Questions 1 and 2

If the argument that the statements in these two questions are historically incompatible is correct, the data generated by Questions 1 and 2 virtually sets the parameters for interpreting the whole body of the data. We are evidently faced with a situation in which the respondents, taken as a group, demonstrate both strong pluralist and exclusivist tendencies. Nearly three-fourths (73.8%) of those who affirmed Question 1 also affirmed Question 2.

At this point, all that we can say is that, apparently, the respondents show a tendency according to the data from Question 2 to think like the old-time Presbyterian missionaries who introduced Protestant exclusivism into northern Thailand. They also show a tendency according to the data from Question 1 to think like Theravada Buddhists, and of the two tendencies the Buddhist one is somewhat more pronounced. All of the various groups surveyed affirmed the statement that "Christian teachings are the only correct religious teachings" by a score of 84% or more, most of them showing scores of 87% to 91%. The responses for Question 2 show, as we saw above, much more wider variations among the groups surveyed and are not as consistently high as is the case for Question 1.

The data from Questions 1 and 2, in sum, indicate that northern Thai Protestants have tendencies towards both Buddhist cultural pluralism and Western Protestant exclusivism.

Question 3

Question 3 asks, "Do you agree that God loves those who believe in Him more than those who do not?" The original intent of the question was to test the degree of theological prejudice that northern Thai Protestants might have towards people of other faiths. In a sense, it is a trick question because it, unlike other questions on the questionnaire, has a correct answer. Theologically, God loves all people equally because they are all part of God's creation and because in Christ divine grace encompasses all of them. I have to say that it was not our original intention that Question 3 be a trick question, it definitely not being our intention to test the theological savvy of the respondents. In any event, an affirmative answered to this question is assumed to be exclusivist. In light of the fact just mentioned that this question has a "right answer," we cannot judge negative answers because those who are theologically knowledgeable are likely to reject the statement in Question 3, whether or not they are exclusivists.

Question 3

Table 6 shows that a total of 61.0% of the 711 respondents who answered this question rejected (disagreed entirely, disagreed, or disagreed somewhat) the statement that "God loves those who believe in Him more than those who do not." Still, a sizeable minority of 35.7% agreed with this statement in spite of its being a wrong answer according to widely accepted Protestant theological norms.

Table 6
Frequency Distribution for Question 3
God loves those who believe in Him more than those who do not

	Number	Valid %
Disagree Entirely	140	19.7%
Disagree	231	32.5%
Disagree Somewhat	63	8.9%
Agree Somewhat	35	4.9%
Agree	124	17.4%
Agree Entirely	95	13.4%
Uncertain	23	3.2%
N = 711

In terms of the variables of age (Question 16), gender (Question 17), locality (Question 18), position in the church (Question 19), educational status (Question 20), and whether or not the respondents were born into a Christian home (Question 21) or have non-Christians living in their homes (Question 22), there is considerable variation in responses, especially in terms of age and education.

Table 7 shows that respondents aged 61 and older showed a much stronger tendency to agree that God loves believers more than others. Just over one-half (50.7%) agreed, a considerably higher figure than for younger people (31.3%) or middle-aged individuals (34.6%). In this case, then, older respondents show a marked tendency towards exclusivism.

	Total Sample	11-30	31-60	Over 60
Disagree	61.0%	65.9%	61.5%	49.3%
Agree	35.7%	31.3%	34.6%	50.7%
Number	711	208	413	67

Table 8 shows that those with a higher level of education tend to disagree (72.3%) with the statement that God loves believers much more than others than do those with a lower education (50.9%).

Table 8
Summary of Frequency Distribution for Question 3 by Educational Status
God loves those who believe in Him more than those who do not

	Total Sample	Low Education	Medium Education	High Education
Disagree	61.0%	50.9%	57.4%	72.3%
Agree	35.7%	46.7%	39.3%	24.0%
Number	711	169	270	242

Note: Low education includes the first three responses in Question 20; medium education includes responses four, five, and six; and, high education includes the last two responses.

In terms of the other variables, gender again made little difference. Women rejected the statement that "God loves those who believe in Him more than those who do not" at virtually the same (61.9%) as men (62.5%). Pastors, as we would expect, disagreed with this statement at a rate higher than any other group (81.8%) because of their theological training. Respondents born into Christian families tended to disagree more often (65.4%) than those who converted to Christianity (53.2%), and interestingly enough people who are living with Buddhist in their home were less apt to reject the idea that God loves believers more than others (55.8%) than were those with no Buddhists in their homes (64.0%).

Reflections on Question 3

The fact that respondents over the age of 60 showed a much more pronounced tendency to agree that God loves believers more than others might be an indication that earlier generations of local church people were more exclusivist in their thinking than those under the age of 60 are today. We should note that in Question 2, above, respondents over the age of 60 also showed a more pronounced tendency towards exclusivism. Some 80.6% of them agreed that Christian teachings are the only correct ones while only 67.8% of those in the ages 11-30 category did so. It is possible, thus, that there is a trend towards pluralism in northern Thai Protestant thinking about people of other faiths. Or, it is also possible, although I think it less likely, that older people always tend to be inherently more exclusivist in their thinking.

The matter may also be related to educational status. As can be seen in Table 9, respondents above the age of 60 are less well-educated than are those in the lower age groups, and we have already seen in Question 2 that better educated respondents tend to be less exclusivist in their views than poorly educated respondents. It should not be forgotten that higher education in Thailand has been expanding rapidly for some time now and that Protestants, generally, tend to be better educated than the general population. This means that the older generation of church members may well have been more exclusivist and that education is a key factor in "re-socializing" northern Thai Protestants into mainstream northern Thai pluralistic thinking.

Note: Low education includes the first three responses in Question 20; medium education includes responses four, five, and six; and, high education includes the last two responses.

The question concerning whether or not previous generations of Protestants were more exclusivist is a significant one. If they were more exclusivist, that would mean that the Presbyterian missionaries were relatively successful in their attempts to change northern Thai attitudes about people of other faiths from a pluralist acceptance to an exclusivist lack of acceptance of those people. The situation facing us today would then be that, for whatever reasons, cultural pluralism is increasingly reasserting itself as the era of missionary exclusivism and influence recedes.

To this point, in any event, it does appear that education is one of the factors promoting pluralistic thinking among northern Thai Protestants.

Questions 4 & 5

The purpose of these two questions is two-fold. First, they seek to test the degree to which the respondents accept or do not accept a central premise of exclusivist Western Protestant thinking, namely that only Christians are saved. Second, they seek to distinguish the personal views of the respondents from the teachings of their churches, as the respondents understand those teachings.

Question 4 asks, "What does your church usually teach concerning the salvation of people of other faith?" Question 5 asks, "What do you think about the salvation of people of other faith?" The respondents were asked in each question to select just one answer from the following four possibilities, which are the same for both questions: [a] "they will go to hell because salvation is found only in Christianity"; [b] "some people of other faiths might be saved, but most will not; but most Christians will be saved"; [c] "people of other faiths who are good will be saved the same as good Christians"; and [d] "I'm not sure on this question." It is assumed that the first response is exclusivist and the third response is pluralistic. The second response is designed to be a compromise or median response. Readers will appreciate the difficulty of designing a compromise response given the fact that the question of salvation is a dualistic one. People either are or are not saved. In effect, selecting the second response suggests some degree of pluralism, however slight, yet it could also be taken as leaning rather heavily towards exclusivism.

Question 4

In terms of the variables of age (Question 16), gender (Question 17), locality (Question 18), position in the church (Question 19), educational status (Question 20), and whether or not the respondents were born into a Christian home (Question 21) or have non-Christians living in their homes (Question 22), there is considerable variation in responses, especially in terms of gender, locality, and position in the church. There is also an important difference in terms of education, which will be discussed under Question 5.

Table 11 shows that men, again, tend to be more exclusivist in their views on people of other faiths than do women, who conversely are more pluralist. The difference between the two for the first, exclusivist response is 9.9% with men being more exclusivist. The difference between the two for the third, pluralist response is 9.2% with women being more pluralist. We should also note that women were also somewhat more inclined to select "uncertain, a response that suggests an unsettled perspective and, perhaps, reflects a shift in thinking that is still in process.

Table 11
Frequency Distribution for Question 4 by Gender
What your church usually teaches concerning the salvation of people of other faiths

Table 13
Frequency Distribution for Question 4 by Positions
What your church usually teaches concerning the salvation of people of other faiths

The figures in Table 15 contradict the analysis presented for Questions 1 through 3, where it appears that higher education results in a more pluralist point of view. As in the case of locality in Question 4, above, the uniquely exclusivist respondents from the Fa Ham Chinese Church also skew the sample for those with a higher education. The members of that church tend to be much more highly educated than the overall sample. If we remove the Fa Ham Church respondents, we see that the figures for those with a higher education are much closer to those for people with lower and medium educational levels. Minus the Fa Ham Church, people with a higher education again score highest in terms of pluralism, with 38.9% agreeing that all good people are saved. At the same time, they continue to score higher than people with a lower education in terms of the exclusivist response that all people of other faiths are damned. The respondents in the higher education category, whether including or excluding the Fa Ham Church respondents, are evidently more polarized in their views on the salvation of people of other faiths. Significantly fewer (14.5% or 13.9%) selected the more median position that a few non-Christians are saved than either the lower or medium education samples. They were also more likely to state that they are "uncertain" than the other two categories.

The data contained in Table 15, thus, suggests that people with a higher education are less likely to choose a compromise position on the salvation of people of other faiths and more of them are likely to be uncertain regarding their views. We should also note than even if the Fa Ham Church respondents are included, less than one-third of those with a higher education (32.6%) are still clearly exclusivist in their views on the salvation of people of other faiths.

Equally important is the difference in responses to the two questions. As can be seen from Table 16, the total sample shows a slight shift away from the perceived teachings of the church. The respondents, that is, collectively indicate that their local churches tend to teach exclusivism more than pluralism and that they are more inclined towards pluralism than are their churches. The shift is not dramatic. The personal shift away from overt ecclesiastical exclusivism towards overt pluralism is only 3.8%. We should note, however, that this shift holds true for every one of the groups surveyed and varies from less than 1.0% to nearly 10.0%, depending on the group. It appears, in sum, that there is a slight shift away from the received ecclesiastical teaching of exclusivism towards the cultural attitude of pluralism.

It is also notable, however, that of those who chose the first or exclusivist response in Question 5 only 1.5% stated in Question 4 that their church teaches a pluralist point of view. Of those who chose the third or pluralist response in Question 5, on the other hand, considerably more (7.8%) stated that their church teaches an exclusivist point of view. The percentages in both cases are small, but they do suggest that some of those who adhere to a pluralist perspective concerning people of other faith believe that they are innovative in doing so. There is almost no sense, conversely, that exclusivism is an innovative position. It appears, in sum, that local churches are somewhat more exclusivist than a portion of their members and that, perhaps, historically they have also been more exclusivist than pluralist in their thinking about people of other faiths.

What may be even more significant regarding the data contained in Table 17 is that so many people think that their churches teach religious pluralism. Of those who chose the second response, which is a compromise response between exclusivism and pluralism, in Question 5 some 15.1% claimed in Question 4 that their church teaches pluralism. Again, of those who were "uncertain," in Question 5, a total of 13.5% stated in Question 4 that their church teaches pluralism. If the opinions of the respondents are at all reflective of the actual situation in the churches, it is apparent that northern Thai Protestant local churches do communicate to their members at least some pluralist attitudes regarding people of other faiths.

Finally, we should mention the answers pastors gave to these two questions. In Question 4, some 68.2% of the pastors affirmed the first response, namely that their churches teach that people of other faiths are damned, that figure being more than 20.0% higher than for any other group surveyed. In Question 5, as already noted above, 59.1% of pastors selected that same response as reflecting their own thinking, which again is much higher than for any other group. On the face of it, pastors appear to be much more exclusivist in their thinking about people of other faiths than other church officers and church members generally. One possible interpretation is that for those with theological training the first response to these two questions seems to be the more correct answer theologically. They would be able to point to a number of places in the Bible that seem to affirm that only Christians are saved. In other words, the pastors answered Questions 4 and 5 in the same way that they answered Question 3, that is according to the received theological wisdom of the church as they understand it. If so, the shift in thinking of pastors away from exclusivism of the church and towards personal pluralism as indicated by their responses to these two questions is an important one. It is made in the face of the pastors' sense that the church teaches exclusivism and reconfirms the slight but noticeable shift of the whole sample away from exclusivism and towards pluralism, which we have already noted.

Conclusion

The data obtained from these five questions suggests that the respondents, as a group, retain a strong inclination towards both pluralist and exclusivist thinking. If anything, the pluralist tendency appears to be slightly stronger. Our data also suggests that pluralism is promoted to some extent by higher education, and that—if there is a trend in one direction or the other—that trend is slightly towards pluralism.

In light of the data for Questions 6 and following, it should be emphasized that these first five questions test only the area of beliefs or ideology. They lead to the conclusion, however, that theologically and ideologically northern Thai Protestants who are members of CCT churches do not, collectively, share in the ideology of the old-time Presbyterian missionaries. There is some indication that they did agree in the past more than they do today. At the same time, missionary exclusivism has not disappeared, but it should be recognized that so far as we can tell from the data, relatively few respondents are consistently exclusivist or pluralist. The sample tends to be both pluralist and exclusivist to varying degrees depending on the question asked (see the discussion in Chapter 4 on core groups).