Religion, Values and Politics: The Effect of Religiosity on Attitudes Towards Immigrants and Muslims

The European Values Study demonstrates a significant impact of religiosity on political attitudes. As an example, the authors investigate the effect of religiosity on attitudes towards immigrants and Muslims, as they are crucial for liberal democracy and a focal point of conflicts about values, politics, and religion. In three steps, the authors reflect on the complexity of this effect. First, selected theories about secularisation, individualisation, and pluralisation of religion are used to outline the development of religion in Europe and its role in the political arena. Second, the effect of religiosity in relation to sociodemographic factors is analysed. A cluster analysis forming socioreligious types offers a deeper insight, quantitatively and qualitatively, of the effect of religiosity on attitudes towards immigrants and Muslims in selected countries. Third, the results are theoretically interpreted. The authors demonstrate that religiosity is neither an independent influencing factor nor one that directly affects attitudes towards immigrants and Muslims. Rather, across Europe, the effect of religiosity is inseparably connected with sociodemographic variables such as ‘age’ and ‘size of town’ and depends on country-specific factors such as political discourses on migration, and religious historical constellations.