Armed Conflict and Religious Adherence Across Countries: A Time Series Analysis
A fundamental question in the comparative sociology of religion is: What are the drivers of cross-national differences in religiosity? The existential insecurity argument raises the expectation of higher levels of religiosity in contexts of social crisis. We test this argument against countries’ arm...
Authors: | ; ; |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
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Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
2022
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In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 83, Issue: 3, Pages: 371-401 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Armed conflict
/ Fear of life
/ Religiosity
/ Security
/ History 1965-2010
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion TK Recent history ZA Social sciences |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | A fundamental question in the comparative sociology of religion is: What are the drivers of cross-national differences in religiosity? The existential insecurity argument raises the expectation of higher levels of religiosity in contexts of social crisis. We test this argument against countries’ armed conflict experiences, employing global longitudinal data on religious adherence over almost half a century. We did not find evidence of religious revival when measuring the consequences of armed conflict with a 5-year lag, indicating that armed conflict-related social crises do not tend to lead to sudden changes in the religious adherence of a country. However, we did find more consistent indications of a higher proportion of religious people when using accumulated measurements of armed conflict, highlighting the importance of investigating the armed conflict history of a country when assessing its religious consequences. Our results show that countries with a more devastating experience of armed conflict tend to present higher proportions of religious adherence in comparison with countries with a less devastating armed conflict history. We concluded that armed conflict tends to partially drive religious persistence in societies that have experienced it, and that the pace at which this takes place is gradual rather than immediate. |
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ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/srab055 |