Where does religion meet democracy? A comparative analysis of attitudes in Europe

Abstract

Starting from the growing importance of religion for politics, this article tests whether religion in Europe is connected with democratic attitudes. Analyzing and understanding such a relationship is essential for a better understanding of the prospects of present and future democratic consolidation. Our two-step approach aims to assess the variation and causal forces of democratic attitudes in Europe in the light of broader country-level factors and individual proclivities towards religion and politics. We use data from the European Values Study (1999) for the correlations and regression model. Our findings undermine the existing prejudices according to which Islam leads to authoritarian attitudes. Moreover, we illustrate the crucial roles played by satisfaction with democracy and confidence in the Church in shaping democratic attitudes across religions.

Religion and Democratic Citizenship: A Multilevel Examination

“…We examined whether and how religion at individual and national levels is related to democratic citizenship norms and political participation in a sample of predominantly-Christian democracies. Our results confirm, as expected, that individuals who attend religious services more frequently place much greater emphasis on citizenship duties and are somewhat more involved in political activities (see e.g., Denters et al 2007; Bolzendahl and Coffé 2009; Ben-Nun Bloom and Arikan 2012; Vlas and Gherghina 2012; Smidt 2013),…”

“…Individual religiosity has been positively linked to certain aspects of citizenship including democratic values (Denters et al 2007; Bolzendahl and Coffé 2009; Ben-Nun Bloom and Arikan 2012; Vlas and Gherghina 2012; Smidt 2013), civic involvement (Ruiter and De Graaf 2006; Putnam and Campbell 2010; McAndrew and Voas 2013; Smidt 2013), and political participation including voting, party membership, and protest (Norris 2002; Driskell et al 2008; Norris and Inglehart 2011; Smidt 2013; Arikan and Ben-Nun Bloom 2019). The mechanisms explaining this connection are multiple and overlapping.…”

“…Debates about the role of religion in democratic citizenship have a long history and continue to elicit disagreement, but the link between religious involvement and democratic beliefs and behaviors appears fairly consistent: cross-nationally, individual religiosity is positively related to the strength of respondents’ democratic citizenship norms (Denters et al 2007; Bolzendahl and Coffé 2009; Dalton 2009), support for democracy (Ben-Nun Bloom and Arikan 2012; Vlas and Gherghina 2012; Smidt 2013), and political and civic engagement (Norris 2002; Ruiter and De Graaf 2006; Putnam and Campbell 2010; Norris and Inglehart 2011; McAndrew and Voas 2013; Smidt 2013). Despite these consistent findings at the individual level, concerns about whether religion facilitates or undermines democratic citizenship linger.…”

Can We Compare Conceptions of Democracy in Cross-Linguistic and Cross-National Research? Evidence from a Random Sample of Refugees in Germany

“…Using the Arab Barometer, Kostenko et al (2016) for example demonstrated that democratic values in Arab countries are not linked to gender equality (Kostenko et al 2016;Rizzo et al 2007). Meanwhile, Vlas and Gherghina (2012), contest claims about Muslim patriarchy by showing that democratic and equality values are not linked to religion but rather to living in a patriarchal society.…”

Institutional Relations Rather Than Clashes of Civilizations: When and How Is Religion Compatible with Democracy?

“…Others argue more explicitly that democracy is only possible in secular societies or at least in those with strong separation of religion and state. They consider that stable democracy in religiously divided societies is possible only if complicated power-sharing arrangements are present (Lijphart 1997;Kalyvas 1998;Brathwaite and Bramsen 2011;Vlas and Gherghina 2012). Overall, these positions implicitly reflect the taken-for-granted privatization of religion that characterized democratization in Europe, as well as the neat religion versus political divide that is taken for granted in IR scholarship.…”