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Arabs are losing faith in religious parties and leaders
[TheEconomist] Religious zeal is also falling in the region, particularly among the young.

“NO TO RELIGION or sect,” cry the protesters in Iraq. “No to Islam, no to Christianity, revolt for the nation,” echo those in Lebanon. Across the Arab world people are turning against religious political parties and the clerics who helped bring them to power. Many appear to be giving up on Islam, too.

These trends are reflected in new data from Arab Barometer, a pollster that surveys Arab countries. Across the region the share of people expressing much trust in political parties, most of which have a religious tint, has fallen by well over a third since 2011, to 15%. (The share of Iraqis who say they do not trust parties at all rose from 51% to 78%.) The decline in trust for Islamist parties is similarly dramatic, falling from 35% in 2013, when the question was first widely asked, to 20% in 2018.
The rest is paywalled, but there is a really interesting series of graphs showing 2012-14 vs 2018-19 across half a dozen Arab countries. It would have been even more interesting were Iran included, but I suspect that collecting that data was not allowed.


Posted by: trailing wife 2020-01-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=560272