A long scentence that I can not uderstand
in the sentence "it was something about being part of the same nation on an equal footing."
What does the scentence mean?It here related to tension between diffirent religions and ethnics. the artical said that the tension is not about belief. I thought the scentence mean "it is about equality". but I still can't understand why the scentence express in this way. what is "being part of"? why say "the same nation"?PS2: does that mean they expect to get equal treat when they compose the nation. the equality is inside the nation, not between contries.

Question

A long scentence that I can not uderstand
in the sentence "it was something about being part of the same nation on an equal footing." 
What does the scentence mean?It here related to tension between diffirent religions and ethnics. the artical said that the tension is not about belief. I thought the scentence mean "it is about equality". but I still can't understand why the scentence express in this way. what is "being part of"? why say "the same nation"?PS2: does that mean they expect to get equal treat when they compose the nation. the equality is inside the nation, not between contries.

Answer

Lets see.... In my point of view (based on your additional details) I would read it in two different ways. The first meaning would be that the sentence considers that since tensions are not brought about by beliefs, it is to do with being together in one environment. For the fact that all religions in that area/country may be treated equally, tensions rise as when religions dispute the thought of equal treatment or coexisting with other religions.

The other way to read it would be that, even with all the tensions amongst differing religions, being a part of the same nation on an equal footing means something much more than the differences between one another's religion.

Hope it helped. I would not be able to go further considering that was all I could work with :/

Answer

One could explain your sentence, but how about providing more context, so that a man can tell you precisely what "it" is in your sentence? For example, if I ask you to explain, "I was happy about that," you would probably like to know what "that" is.