How the religious context affects the relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards immigration

This article approaches two shortcomings in previous research on religiosity and prejudice: (1) the lack of cross-country comparative studies; and (2) a failure to consider any moderating effects of religious contexts. We examine whether the relationship between religiosity and anti-immigration attitudes varies depending on religious contexts in Europe, and we find two things. First, strongly religious people are on average less likely to oppose immigration than non-religious people. Second, different religious contexts moderate the religiosity–attitude relationship in that religious people in Protestant countries and in countries with a low proportion of majority adherents are more tolerant than religious people in Catholic countries and in religiously homogenous countries. State policies also matter in that religious people are more negative where the government favours the majority religion. This calls into question the taken-for-granted understanding of religiosity and out-group attitudes found in the USA.     

Immigrant generation,religiosity and civic engagement in Britain

Abstract

Immigrant integration appears to be generational in the USA, and further facilitated by religious involvement. We examine whether similar patterns exist in Britain. We find evidence for secularization across ethnic minority groups, measured by private religious practice and religious salience. Communal religious practice appears robust to generational decline. Ethnic minority members of the second generation exhibit lower social trust; for the 1.5 generation, being more religious is associated with lower trust. However, members of the 1.5 and second generation are more civically involved than the first and religiosity further increases civic involvement. While anecdotal accounts suggest that religiosity has a particularly dissociative effect on the second generation, we find no evidence for this. In sum, successive generations of ethnic minority respondents appear to be secularizing; successive generations are more civically involved than the arriving generation, although less trusting; and immigrant religiosity promotes civic integration.     

Islamic gatherings: experiences of discrimination and religious affirmation across established and new immigrant communities

To what extent are perceptions of discrimination associated with religious affirmation among Muslim minorities in the Netherlands? Drawing on recent nationally representative surveys among self-identified Muslims from five ethnic groups in the Netherlands, we test boundary conditions of reactive religiosity. Our findings indicate that for Muslims from established immigrant groups, perceptions of discrimination are associated with more frequent religious attendance, but that this is not the case for Muslims from smaller, less established ethnic communities. Findings are interpreted using a boundary framework.     

Religiosity and its relation to blood pressure among selected Kuwaitis

This study examines the relationship between blood pressure and the religious practices of Kuwaitis as members of a Muslim society. Religious variables were measured via a sociocultural questionnaire. Blood pressure measurements were taken with a sphygmomanometer. Non-opportunistic samples were taken from 223 Kuwaitis. The difference in religious commitment between Muslim Sunnis and Muslim Shiites was examined using a t-test. Matrix correlation was used to examine the relationship between religious commitment and some other variables. Multiple regression was conducted to determine the effect of religiosity on blood pressure, as well as statistically controlling for other variables such as body mass index, socioeconomic status, smoking, gender and age. It was found that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were affected by religious commitment and religious activities     

Citizenship and stratification in an ethnic democracy

A theoretical framework of multiple citizenship discourses is proposed for analysing the transformation of the structure of ethnic relations in the yishuv and Israel. An historical overview indicates how Israel's 'incorporation regime' for its main ethnic and religious groups - ashkenazim, mizrachim, Orthodox-Jews, citizen and non-citizen Palestinians - was constituted through a hierarchical combination of three citizenship discourses: a collectivist republican discourse, based on the civic virtue of 'pioneering' colonization; an ethno-nationalist discourse, based on Jewish descent, and an individualist liberal discourse, based on civic criteria of membership. It is suggested that Israel's historical trajectory has consisted in its gradual transformation from a colonial to a civil society, and concomitantly in the gradual replacement of its republican citizenship discourse by a liberal discourse. Finally, the dilemmas of its ethnic and religious groups in choosing between the liberal and the ethno-nationalist citizenship discourses in the current period are charted.     

Political efficacy and interest as mediators of expected political participation among Belgian adolescents

Abstract

Citizenship education intends to prepare students to become politically active citizens. However, studies investigating the relationship between citizenship education and political participation have largely neglected the mediating role of political attitudes. This study examines whether political efficacy and political interest are mediators of expected political participation, using the data of the Belgian (Flemish) sample of the ICCS 2016 study. The results indicate that three educational strategies (i.e., classroom discussions, civic learning opportunities, and student participation at school) are positively associated with expected political participation (i.e., institutionalized and noninstitutionalized participation) in a distinct way. A substantial part of this relationship is mediated by political interest and political efficacy. Future research should take this underlying mechanism into account when studying the development of civic engagement amongst adolescents in a school context. The findings of this study call for a broad approach to citizenship education for the development of political attitudes, as well as behavior.     

Homegrown foreigners: how Christian nationalism and nativist attitudes impact Muslim civil liberties

Building from the literature on racialization of Muslims, we argue that there are two unique dimensions to anti-Muslim attitudes: Christian nationalism and nativism. Christian nationalism subscribes to the idea of Christianity as being central to American identity, and nativism provides insight into the monopolies regulating citizenship. We then test this framework’s hypotheses on data drawn from the General Social Survey in 2014 to see if these two dimensions predict support for civil rights infringements of Muslim-Americans compared to other outgroups, including atheists, communists, and racists. The results indicate both Christian nationalism and nativism have significant and negative effects on Muslim civil liberties. We also find some differences between the effects of Christian nationalism and nativism on Muslim civil liberties compared to the other outgroups. We interpret these results as an indication that nativism works as an ordering principle to reconstitute who counts as American and who does not.     

Integration and religiosity among the Turkish second generation in Europe: a comparative analysis across four capital cities

Drawing on recent cross-national surveys of the Turkish second generation, we test hypotheses of secularization and of religious vitality for Muslim minorities in Europe. Secularization predicts an inverse relationship between structural integration and religiosity, such that the Turkish second generation would be less religious with higher levels of educational attainment and intermarriage. The religious vitality hypothesis predicts the maintenance of religion in the second generation, highlighting the role of religious socialization within immigrant families and communities. Taking a comparative approach, these hypotheses are tested in the context of different national approaches to the institutionalization of Islam as a minority religion in four European capital cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and Stockholm. Across contexts, religious socialization strongly predicts second-generation religiosity, in line with religious vitality. The secularization hypothesis finds support only among the second generation in Berlin, however, where Islam is least accommodated.     

Muslim community organizations – sites of active citizenship or self-segregation?

Ethno-religious community organizations in Western countries have often been described as being disconnected from mainstream society, and Muslim community groups have been a special focus of such critique. This article offers a counter-narrative to these widespread allegations. It draws on a synthesis of emerging research on the citizenship-enhancing effects of mosque involvement and on an explorative study involving thirty in-depth interviews with civically active Muslims in Australia and Germany. The article examines the potential of Muslim community organizations to mobilize their member into performing their citizenship through civic and political participation. It offers empirical evidence that many Muslim community organizations, rather than promoting social segregation, act as accessible entry point for Muslims’ civic participation, facilitate cross-community engagement and provide gateways to political involvement. These civic potentials of Muslim community organization have remained underestimated in the public and political discourse on cohesive societies and healthy democracies.     

Predicting Positive Citizenship from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of a Civic Context

Researchers have theorized that programs to promote positive citizenship should begin with an opportunity for adolescents to participate in civic activities, such as community service or political volunteering. In this article we extend the theory by arguing that a more systemic approach is needed, in which a civic context is developed to promote citizenship. We hypothesize that living within a consistent civic context leads to civic engagement in late adolescence and into young adulthood. We use a diverse, longitudinal dataset to test this hypothesis. We find that social interactions with peers, parent modeling of civic behaviors, and cultural factors, such as ethnicity-specific practices, cumulatively result in a higher level of civic activities among youth and that a continued context that includes these factors results in a higher level of civic activities into adulthood. The implications of our findings are discussed with regard to program and policy development.     

Predicting Positive Citizenship from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of a Civic Context

Researchers have theorized that programs to promote positive citizenship should begin with an opportunity for adolescents to participate in civic activities, such as community service or political volunteering. In this article we extend the theory by arguing that a more systemic approach is needed, in which a civic context is developed to promote citizenship. We hypothesize that living within a consistent civic context leads to civic engagement in late adolescence and into young adulthood. We use a diverse, longitudinal dataset to test this hypothesis. We find that social interactions with peers, parent modeling of civic behaviors, and cultural factors, such as ethnicity-specific practices, cumulatively result in a higher level of civic activities among youth and that a continued context that includes these factors results in a higher level of civic activities into adulthood. The implications of our findings are discussed with regard to program and policy development.     

Acts and practices of citizenship: Muslim women’s activism in the UK

Drawing on the growing literature on Muslim women’s activism, this paper explores grammars of action that frame political mobilizations of Muslim women in the UK. By taking a broad view of political activism, we identify acts and practices of citizenship through which Muslim women activists engage with, reinterpret and challenge social norms. The article critically engages with dominant readings of post-migration minorities’ political mobilization through the lens of citizenship regimes and draws attention to more processual and agency-centred perspectives on citizenship. We focus on two salient themes that Bristol-based Muslim activists were concerned with: mobilizing against violence against women, manifested in the anti-FGM campaign by Integrate Bristol, and attempts to re-negotiate the terms of participation in religious spaces, manifested in claims for more inclusive mosques. In both instances, mobilization was not confined to the local community or national level, but supported by and embedded in related transnational struggles.     

Rewarding the good and punishing the bad: The role of karma and afterlife beliefs in shaping moral norms

Moralizing religions encourage people to anticipate supernatural punishments for violating moral norms, even in anonymous interactions. This is thought to be one way large-scale societies have solved cooperative dilemmas. Previous research has overwhelmingly focused on the effects of moralizing gods, and has yet to thoroughly examine other religious moralizing systems, such as karma, to which more than a billion people subscribe worldwide. In two pre-registered studies conducted with Chinese Singaporeans, we compared the moralizing effects of karma and afterlife beliefs of Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, and the non-religious. In Study 1 (N = 582), we found that Buddhists and Taoists (karmic religions) judge individual actions as having greater consequences in this life and the next, compared to Christians. Pointing to the specific role of karma beliefs in these judgements, these effects were replicated in comparisons of participants from the non-karmic religions/groups (Christian and non-religious) who did or did not endorse karma belief. Study 2 (N = 830) exploited religious syncretism in this population by reminding participants about either moral afterlife beliefs (reincarnation or heaven/hell), ancestor veneration beliefs, or neither, before assessing norms of generosity in a series of hypothetical dictator games. When reminded of their ancestor veneration beliefs, Buddhists and Taoists (but not Christians) endorsed parochial prosocial norms, expressing willingness to give more to their family and religious group than did those in the control condition. Moral afterlife beliefs increased generosity to strangers for all groups. Taken together, these results provide evidence that different religious beliefs can foster and maintain different prosocial and cooperative norms.     

Religious Affiliation Modulates Weekly Cycles of Cropland Burning in Sub-Saharan Africa

Vegetation burning is a common land management practice in Africa, where fire is used for hunting, livestock husbandry, pest control, food gathering, cropland fertilization, and wildfire prevention. Given such strong anthropogenic control of fire, we tested the hypotheses that fire activity displays weekly cycles, and that the week day with the fewest fires depends on regionally predominant religious affiliation. We also analyzed the effect of land use (anthrome) on weekly fire cycle significance. Fire density (fire counts.km^-2) observed per week day in each region was modeled using a negative binomial regression model, with fire counts as response variable, region area as offset and a structured random effect to account for spatial dependence. Anthrome (settled, cropland, natural, rangeland), religion (Christian, Muslim, mixed) week day, and their 2-way and 3-way interactions were used as independent variables. Models were also built separately for each anthrome, relating regional fire density with week day and religious affiliation. Analysis revealed a significant interaction between religion and week day, i.e. regions with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim) display distinct weekly cycles of burning. However, the religion vs. week day interaction only is significant for croplands, i.e. fire activity in African croplands is significantly lower on Sunday in Christian regions and on Friday in Muslim regions. Magnitude of fire activity does not differ significantly among week days in rangelands and in natural areas, where fire use is under less strict control than in croplands. These findings can contribute towards improved specification of ignition patterns in regional/global vegetation fire models, and may lead to more accurate meteorological and chemical weather forecasting.     

Emotions of the weak: violence and ethnic boundaries among Coptic Christians in Egypt

This article offers a theoretical framework to understand Muslim–Christian relations in contemporary Egypt. I argue that the interdependence of power relations, emotions, and symbolic boundaries are the key to understanding minority emotions as a political product and a boundary marker. Particular emotions of Christian minorities invoked during interactions and non-interactions with Muslim neighbours reveal the distance between the two groups, while cultivating cohesion among Christians. Data collected from participant observation in public spaces of a religiously tolerant neighbourhood in Cairo and in-depth interviews with 27 Coptic Christians show that indirect violence and daily microaggressions, triggered by the power disparity, unfold internalized fear and ‘righteous indignation’, negative feelings including anger and irritation against unjust treatment. Findings also discuss Coptic strategies to dismiss negative emotions. The interdependent framework, which has been largely understudied, expands our scope of understanding how power relates to minority emotions and symbolic boundaries between ethnic and religious groups.     

When Ingroups Aren’t “In”: Perceived Political Belief Similarity Moderates Religious Ingroup Favoritism

Motivated thinking leads people to perceive similarity between the self and ingroups, but under some conditions, people may recognize that personal beliefs are misaligned with the beliefs of ingroups. In two focal experiments and two replications, we find evidence that perceived belief similarity moderates ingroup favoritism. As part of a charity donation task, participants donated money to a community charity or a religious charity. Compared to non-religious people, Christians favored religious charities, but within Christians, conservative Christians favored religious charities more than liberal Christians did. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the perceived political beliefs of the charity accounted for the differences in ingroup favoritism between liberal and conservative Christians. While reporting little awareness of the influence of ideology, Christian conservatives favored religious charities because they perceived them as conservative and liberal Christians favored the community charity because they perceived it as liberal.     

Ólavsøka: The faroese national holiday*

In many cultures with male‐dominated religions, women are subject to illnesses which are attributed to spirit‐possession. Two main alternative therapies are usually available. Treatment is effected either by exorcism, or by domesticating the spirit ‐ a process which de Heusch calls ‘adortism’. In the latter case, women are recruited through illness into female‐centred ‘cults of affliction’, regarded as superstitious and subversive by men, who try to prevent their wives from becoming involved in these cults, preferring exorcism as therapy. Exorcism thus becomes an instrument of male power in the struggle to control women's incipient religiosity. The paper examines the interplay of exorcism and adorcism in relation to gender in Christian, Muslim and Buddhist settings. It concludes by considering the implications of women as well as men practising exorcism, and suggests that the consequences of the formal distinction between exorcism and adorcism may not always be as sharply opposed as appears at first sight.     

Investigating general and specific links from adolescents’ perceptions of ecological assets to their civic actions

Civic engagement is an important marker of thriving among adolescents, and more research is needed that clarifies the ecological assets (positive supports across settings) that foster youth civic engagement. Simultaneously modeling associations between multiple ecological assets and civic behaviors can provide a nuanced view of the way adolescents’ ecological assets relate to distinct forms of civic engagement. To advance positive youth development theory, we used a bifactor modeling approach to examine general and specific ecological asset factors in relation to volunteering, conventional political, online political, and informal helping behaviors. In a large ethnically diverse sample of adolescents, the general ecological asset factor was positively associated with informal helping only. Classroom civic learning opportunities were positively associated with volunteering, conventional, and online political behaviors. Family political discussions were positively associated with conventional and online political behaviors. Our study suggests that civic engagement should be understood multidimensionally and that broad and specific ways of conceptualizing ecological assets have merit for understanding different types of youth civic engagement.     

The effects of prenatal exposure to Ramadan on stature during childhood and adolescence: Evidence from the Indonesian Family Life Survey

Many pregnant Muslim women fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A number of studies have reported negative life outcomes in adulthood for children who were prenatally exposed to Ramadan. However, other studies document minimal to no impact on neonatal indicators. Using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey consisting of 45,246 observations of 21,723 children born to 9771 mothers, we contribute to the current discussion on prenatal exposure to Ramadan by examining the effects on stature (height-for-age Z-scores, weight-for-age Z-scores, and body-mass-index-for-age Z-scores: HAZ, WAZ, and BAZ, respectively) from early childhood to late adolescence (0–19 years of age). We introduce an objective mother’s religiosity indicator to improve the intention-to-treat estimations. Children were classified into three groups based on their mother’s religion-religiosity: religious Muslims, less-religious Muslims, and non-Muslims. Using cluster-robust mother fixed-effects, we found negative effects on stature for children born to religious Muslim mothers. The effects were age-dependent and timing-sensitive. For example, children born to religious Muslim mothers were shorter in late adolescence (15–19 years of age) compared to their unexposed siblings if they were prenatally exposed in the first trimester of pregnancy (HAZ difference = −0.105 SD; p-val. <0.05). Interestingly, we found positive effects on stature for exposed less-religious Muslim children that peak in early adolescence (10–14 years of age) and negative effects on stature for exposed non-Muslim children that occur only in early childhood (0–4 years of age). We nuance our discussion of health and socioeconomic factors to explain these surprising results.