Multiculturalism and the State

speculation here, report to the mods if necessary.

I believe the US or Canada are good examples of a multi ethnic states with degrees of religious tolerance. That is mostly because of the economic comfort, and new world basis which not many other nations can enjoy. The other examples I can imagine are not so savory - India, Austria-Hungary, Polish-Lithuania, USSR, Kenya, Nigeria. They have a history of ethnic-religous clashes or have failed politically.

Malaysia qualifies, but Malays make still make up the majority. Lebanon has a power sharing agreement that most Lebanese disagree with. Even in the US multi-ethnic metropolises, people are divided geographically upon race or religion. It's a bad example because Americans have the affordable space, while other regions do not.

What political scientists say anyway is to stress the individual rights, concerns and property to de-emphasize any ethnic-religous focus/divide. This works in principle because in the new world, no one has strong ties to the land, I suppose. But I can't imagine any society where indigenous people are freely able to marry those outside their religion-race. Edit. China is an example where the there's large amounts of autonomy given to minority people/states, and where foreign people have assimilated to create a entire 'Chinese' nationality. This works because Chinese 'religions' are 1) not as seen as a "community" event, but rather a private family practice 2) no one spreads a religion that says the previous beliefs are 'wrong' which provides one of the best examples of syncretism 3) those 'religions'/philosophies emphasize humanism

Actually the best example might be the European Union.