Newcomers to this country often find Canadians have a curious stance toward religion. We seldom say much negative about religion in public but we never take it too seriously either.

A new study, The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, suggests it may be time to take a second look at the public relevance of religion for the most unexpected reason: economics.

It’s generally overlooked, but Canada’s religious tapestry makes massive economic and social contributions to local communities and to Canada’s well-being each year.

The uniqueness of social science researcher Brian Grim’s project is that he attempts to quantify that and put a price tag on it nationally, calculating religion’s contribution to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The study documents how shared religious commitment (and its personal and institutional expressions) create a hidden economy and social safety net operating in plain sight that benefits all Canadians. Parsing the data, faith in Canada is a multibillion-dollar engine of economic productivity and public good, alongside the spiritual inspiration it provides to millions nationwide.

Faith-based organizations add more than $30 billion in revenue each year to the Canadian economy through religious schools, charities, and hospitals like Providence Health Care in Toronto and Vancouver and Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.

That number includes the revenue generated by the community and humanitarian organizations like the Calgary Food Bank and Islamic Relief, as well as 20,000 plus churches, synagogues, temples and mosques whose contributions to the economy and neighbourhood dwarf the tax benefits they receive 12 times over, according to the recent Special Senate Committee Report on the Charitable Sector.

But according to Grim, the $30-billion figure under-calculates the actual boost to the economy, because revenues alone don’t capture the value of the goods and services the religious sector provides.

Far from being a private affair, the fair market value of all the jobs created, daycares run, addicts in recovery, newcomers welcomed and resettled, and much more (a phenomenon known as the halo effect), totals over $67 billion. That’s a modest, middle-range estimate that makes religion Canada’s ninth-largest enterprise, just behind the Bank of Montreal.

If these programs and institutions were to disappear, their contributions would be effectively impossible to replace by government or private sources.

This review of the data comes during a time of economic downturn following Canada’s deepest-ever GDP plunge – down 12 percent in the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research provides greater clarity about the value of the economic and social contributions made by organizations big and small across Canada, many that serve as first responders in times of crisis.

Previous research has calculated and documented the local halo effects of religious organizations in places like Vancouver, Red Deer, Toronto and Montreal in the amounts of $1.4 billion, $111 million, $3.3 billion, and $2.3 billion respectively (see haloproject.ca).

So what does it all mean?

For one thing, it’s long past time we all recognized that religion really isn’t just a private matter. The old church building you pass when you walk your dog is more than an architectural adornment. It’s an economic engine and public good in most communities that benefit even those neighbours who never walk inside.

Secondly, we need to remember that when religious life thrives, we all benefit. On the flip side, there’s strong evidence that Canadians and their neighbourhoods are harmed when religious activity is restricted unnecessarily through zoning, regulation, taxation or intolerance.

While the research represents the first national tabulation in Canada, building on local research, Grim also acknowledges the study’s limitations. It excludes a valuation of the physical assets and non-revenue financial holdings of religious institutions that would actually increase the estimates.

It also recognizes but does not attempt to quantify, negative impacts that are smaller in scale, such as fraudulent activity or abuse of power that can occur in both religious and secular institutions.

However, building on decades of research, the study corrects the blind spot that Canadian religion is irrelevant to society and the economy. Canada’s religious impulses and activities lead to good and measurable economic results. It’s time to take note.

SOME non-governmental organisations at a chat with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last month expressed concern that Western liberalism and secularism were posing a threat to religion.

Coincidentally a day later, Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara said at a Rukun Negara forum that Malaysians should understand their own religion and that of others.

Do these “others” also include the West, particularly Europe, and are its values threatening religion?

The answer is “no”.

It is Covid-19 that poses a threat, not Western liberalism and secularism as commonly assumed.

Europe has a very long history of civilised institutional religion dating back more than a thousand years.

But under rigid theocratic laws, only the state religion could be practised except for listed ethno-cultural minorities granted the right to practise their own religions.

Modern Western values have done much good despite their perceived evils.

Liberalism and secularism have freed the European mind, turning Europe into the world’s interfaith hub.

Any white European is free to embrace Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism or Taoism.

Liberalism is a movement to liberate the mind, and secularism is a movement to free a nation’s legal system from theocratic despotism.

Although much has been said about churches in Europe having no crowds, there is more to it than what the tourist eye sees.

Millions of Europeans stay loyal to Christianity but many spend their Sundays walking in the forest or meditating at spirituality centres where the focus is on finding higher dimensions of life beyond rituals.

Religion fosters mass social bonding so vital for starting and maintaining any civilisation.

No other institution has the force of conviction to motivate entire populations to congregate every week for bonding.

Many religious congregations number several thousands at every weekly gathering, testifying to the enormous influence that religion has over society.

The rituals of bonding are plentiful: ablution, communion, greetings, hugging, singing, chanting, standing together, prostrating together, and food after service.

These rituals cement the bonding of a population, infusing its culture and civilisation with vibrancy.

Social distancing, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, breaks all this.

Limited to clan-sized gatherings, the social capital starts to evaporate.

For congregations that depend on ritualistic socialisation, the absence of mass gatherings will be crushing.

This is why lawsuits have been filed in the United States against state governments to stop mass-gathering bans from being applied to religious services.

Missing out on face-to-face interactions will loosen the dense web of social connections that strengthen relationships.

It is this social capital that enables a whole community to think, feel and act in unison at the leadership’s direction.

This is a communally shared experience like no other.

But in a pandemic, all the rituals of social bonding, if allowed to continue unrestricted, will lead to mass deaths.

You don’t have to cough to pass on the virus; you just have to talk without a mask.

To save religion, preachers should constantly highlight one key point in their sermons: Let there be no Covid-19.

What must your congregation do?

First, it must learn the facts.

Covid-19 is the end result of jungle clearing for plantations and extension of towns.

Wildlife is driven out, along with the coronaviruses that jump from animal to human.

By instinct, wild animals keep their distance from humans. But with encroachment, the distance has narrowed.

These animals are then captured for sale to exotic food markets, traditional medicine dealers and trophy shops.

Pangolins, tigers, rhinos, wild pigeons, snakes, bats, deer, wild boar, porcupine, junglefowl, grasscutter rodents, leopards, bears, elephants, hornbills – no species is safe in any continent.

To prevent more coronaviruses leaping to humans, we must completely ban forest clearing and wildlife trading in every country including Malaysia.

The only exception should be the keeping of wild animals for research and education.

By the way, forest destruction happens in Asia, Africa and South America, but not Europe.

It is in the interest of all religions that they should launch a global platform to initiate collaborative actions for prevention of Covid-19.

Religion exercises the biggest influence and holds the strongest grip over populations.

We have the knowledge to sustain humanity – what is missing is the political and religious collaboration.

If we continue going our separate ways, that is the wrong way leading to a dead end.

The writer champions interfaith harmony. Comments: [email protected]

Rabat – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron over his remarks on Islam. Macron had used an October 2 speech to claim Islam was “in crisis” worldwide, prompting a global backlash. Erdogan joined the outrage at Macron’s statements in a speech to Turkish religious workers on Tuesday, accusing Macron of disrespect and ignorance.

Erdogan called Macron’s remarks on Islam an “open provocation,” according to state-sponsored Anadolu News Agency. The Turkish president said the remarks were especially tone-deaf as Macron spoke from a Muslim-majority neigborhood in Paris. Approximately 10-15% of Parisians are adherents of Islam and Muslims make up a majority of Paris’ immigrant population.

President Erdogan called Macron’s statements against Islam worldwide a “clear provocation.” He stated that Macron was “rude” and had no business demanding reforms in a religion that is not his own. 

Erdogan’s analysis

Erdogan pointed to growing xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe as the motivation behind Macron’s speech. “Attacking Muslims has become one of the most important tools for European politicians to hide their failure,” Erdogan told the crowd. Demonizing Islam to avoid an introspective dialogue in Europe is part of “cheap” tactics employed by “fascist groups,” he said.

While many in the Islamic world disagree with Erdogan’s governing style and foreign policy ambitions, his analysis of and push-back on Macron’s remarks will likely garner some support. Erdogan considered the speech to be a part of domestic politics, an effort to appease increasingly Islamophobic voters who are likely to support parties opposing Macron.

“European leaders who are stuck in domestic politics and failed in foreign policy try to cover up their inadequacy by targeting Islam,” Erdogan stated. He accused Macron of trying to “hide the crisis that France and French society face” and saw the move as a push to “settle accounts with Islam and Muslims.”

Erdogan directly accused Macron of fueling tensions by stigmatizing the French Muslim population while protecting Islamophobes and racists. Macron, he said, is harming French society more by encouraging racism and Islamophobia and should not “pretend to be a colonial governor.”

Islam in crisis

Macron’s October 2 remarks singled out Islam as a perceived threat to French secularism. “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today, we are not just seeing this in our country,” the French president said. His speech mixed references to Islamic radicalism, islamic seperatism, and Islam as a whole in a problematic fashion.

Macron fed on national angst following the stabbing of several people by two Muslim immigrants near the former office of controversial satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. The stabbings followed the reprint of images of the Islamic prophet, which Muslims see as a grave offense. Amid national fear of extremism, Macron appears to make an effort to not lose xenophobic voters to the openly Islamophobic National Front.

The National Front narrowly beat Macron’s party in the 2019 European Parliamentary election and has gained in approval polls since March. The French president appeared eager to reverse this trend by promoting his own brand of anti-Islam policies that are popular among Europe’s growing segment of xenophobic and racist voters.

Crisis in Europe

Macron’s focus on Islam appears to gloss over, and further mainstream, the growing extremism among Europe’s far-right. As Erdogan pointed out, Macron’s remarks only further fuel the growing acceptance of racism in European society. 

Europe experienced a slowly growing internal awareness of its historically destructive and predatory colonialism in its museums and textbooks over the last decade. However, economic hardship and shrinking opportunities appear to again reharden opinions on the continent. Macron and other mainstream neoliberal politicians are increasingly reaching for xenophobia as a scapegoat. 

After nearly four decades of center-right neoliberal economics in Europe, the continent is left more unequal and with ever-shrinking public services. The blame for this growing crisis is the politicians who instituted those changes, not the relatively powerless Muslim minorities. 

While Erdogan receives little praise in the Islamic world, the Turkish president’s analysis of Macron’s remarks is likely to garner temporary sympathy.

Read also: Macron Blunders Through the Middle East Amid Crisis at Home