By Faith Alone?: Church Attendance and Christian Faith in three European Countries

Many social scientists seem to believe that Catholics attend church more often than Protestants because of differences in theology and not necessarily because Protestants are more secularised. In an attempt to settle this issue, this article uses data from the 1999 European Values Study to determine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary religion
Main Author: Lüchau, Peter (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Carfax Publ. [2007]
In: Journal of contemporary religion
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:Many social scientists seem to believe that Catholics attend church more often than Protestants because of differences in theology and not necessarily because Protestants are more secularised. In an attempt to settle this issue, this article uses data from the 1999 European Values Study to determine what factors influence church attendance in a Catholic, Protestant, and mixed European country (Italy, Denmark, and Germany). Using an ordinary least squares multiple regression the article shows that for both Catholics and Protestants it is predominantly the level of Christian faith that determines the rate of church attendance. Hence the differences in church attendance among Catholics and Protestants reflect differences in overall levels of religiosity and are not just artefacts of different views of the importance of going to church. Even Protestants do not live by faith alone.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537900601114479