3. Attitudes toward religious communities Some research has been undertaken into Australians’ attitudes towards those of diverse religious beliefs and backgrounds. While negative attitudes are not in themselves examples of serious harms, the prevalence of negative attitudes towards particular groups can make serious harms on the basis of religion more likely to occur. The 2017 Scanlon Foundation report investigated Australians’ perceptions of people of three different religious traditions. It noted a relatively high level of negative opinion towards Muslims ... Over the course of seven surveys, negative opinion has been in the range 22%–25% (11%–14% very negative), at an average of 24%. This compares to 4%–5% negative opinion towards Christians (average 4.5%) and Buddhists (average 4.5%).23 14