Agents of Religious Socialization Among American Jews*

This study analyzes the process of religious socialization among American Jews using a sample of Chicago area adults. Two studies of Catholic schooling by Andrew Greeley and co-authors provides a conceptual framework. In addition to religious schooling, parental religiosity and spouse's religiosity analyzed in the Catholic school studies, this paper considers the effects of peer influences, youth group participation, and summer camping. An explanatory (path) model of religious socialization is developed. The findings indicate that four agents of religious socialization are consistently the best predictors of all types of adult religious involvement. They rank differently, however, in their predictive power. Contrary to many previous studies, these data show that parental influences tend to be more indirect than direct, mainly performing a channeling function; religious schooling has both substantial direct and indirect effects; and adult experiences are often more important than childhood experiences in the socialization process.     

Highly religious young Catholics in Northern Ireland: Renewing the Catholic landscape?

This article explores findings from a 2022 survey of students associated with the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen's University, Belfast. It is the first study to investigate the beliefs, practices, and experiences of highly religious young Catholics in Northern Ireland. It presents survey findings on beliefs, practices, and influences on faith; dynamics of increased religiosity; and views on Church teachings on same sex relationships, euthanasia, sexual relationships, and abortion. Women are more likely to disagree with Church teachings on these issues than men. The survey confirms the importance of family socialization but finds that a substantial minority experience religious change at university. Respondents prioritize renewal but disagree on how to prompt it: some advocate greater ‘openness’ to women, LGBTQ+, and others perceived as marginalized; and others feel ‘evangelization’ should be emphasized. ‘Post-secular Catholicism’ is used as a foundation for reflections on religious persistence among Northern Ireland's young Catholics, raising questions about their potential role in renewing Ireland's Catholic landscape in light of the synodal process underway in the Church.     

Muslim religious accommodations in Western Europe: Do multicultural policies impact religiosity levels among Muslims,Catholics and Protestants?

How do religious accommodations for Muslim minorities shape religiosity levels among Muslims minorities? Answering this question is critical in the contemporary period, as Western European countries have experienced greater diversity in religious affiliations due to immigration. In this article, we address this question by analysing individual data across multiple waves of the European Social Survey (ESS). Our analysis improves on existing studies in that it (1) incorporates a greater number of countries than prior studies, (2) covers a historically novel period of religious accommodations for Muslim minorities and (3) more effectively controls for unmeasured country and time‐invariant processes than previous research. We find that in countries that have instituted greater religious accommodations, Muslim respondents generally report higher levels of religiosity. Interestingly, we also find that the greater institutionalization of religious accommodations for Muslims also impacts the subjective religiosity levels of Protestant majorities. We find no effect for Catholic respondents.     

ENGAGING A SPIRIT FROM THE EAST: ASIAN AMERICAN CHRISTIANS AND CIVIC LIFE

Asian Americans are one the fastest growing nonwhite populations and nearly half are Christian. Little is known, however, about the impact of religion on their civic lives beyond volunteerism. This article is a comparative analysis of Asian American Catholic and Protestant civic involvements. In the general population some have argued that the acquisition of civic skills is hindered by Catholic affiliation relative to Protestantism, but it is not know if the same is true for Asian Americans. I explore these issues with data from the Social Capital Benchmark (SCCB) Survey using logistic regression analysis. Results suggest that Protestant Asian Americans are more likely to vote and be interested in politics than Asian American Catholics, but being Protestant is not a significant predictor of community participation. I conclude that religion, particularly with small group participation, is an important resource for all Asian American Christians across broad measures of civic life.     

Religiosity as a predictor of students' political attitudes

This paper analyzes the relationship between students' level of actual religiosity and their sociodemographic characteristics, political orientation, and political attitudes. The paper is based on an online survey conducted at the University of Rijeka (N = 624) in 2021. The vast majority of our respondents (90%) received the three holy sacraments of initiation in their early childhood and attended Catholic religious education at school. The explanation of the significantly less actual religiosity of students is approached from the position of Pickel's contextualized theory of secularization. Relying on Voas and Day, a composite variable distinguishes highly religious students, moderately religious students, weakly religious students, and non-religious students on the basis of the respondents' positioning toward religious self-identification, beliefs, Church attendance, and the importance of religion in one's life. Statistically significant correlations between actual religiosity and political orientation were established. Very religious Catholic students, who are the least numerous and the least homogenous category, are more inclined to right-wing political orientation and reject ethno-nationalism/anti-multiculturalism less and accept clericalism more than other categories of students. In a broader sense, this study reveals that a large number of respondents distance themselves from religion and the Church at student age despite their experience of formal religious socialization at school age. Furthermore, the results suggest that the synergy of the liberalizing effect of education and the tolerant sociocultural atmosphere of an area reduces the influence of religiosity on the political attitudes and orientation of students.     

Religious Communities,Immigration, and Social Cohesion in Rural Areas: Evidence from England*

Religious communities are important sources of bridging and bonding social capital that have varying implications for perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas. In particular, as well as cultivating cohesiveness more broadly, the bridging social capital associated within mainline religious communities may represent an especially important source of support for the social integration of new immigrant groups. Although the bonding social capital associated with evangelical communities is arguably less conducive to wider social cohesion, it may prompt outreach work by those communities, which can enhance immigrant integration. This article examines these assumptions by exploring the relationship between mainline and evangelical religious communities, immigration, and residents' perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas in England. I model the separate and combined effects of religious communities and economic in‐migration on social cohesion using multivariate statistical techniques. The analysis suggests that mainline Protestant communities enhance social cohesion in rural England, while evangelical communities do not. The social integration of immigrants appears to be more likely where mainline Protestant and Catholic communities are strong, but is unaffected by the strength of evangelical ones.     

Zwischen Säkularisierung und religiöser Reorganisation – Eine Analyse der Religiosität türkischer und polnischer Neuzuwanderer in Deutschland

This paper addresses the role of religion in the process of immigrant integration in Germany. Based on novel data (SCIP 2010/11) from a survey among new Polish and Turkish migrants, it particularly focuses on the impact of the migratory event upon religious participation and private religious practice as well as on early trends of changing religiosity in the receiving context. The study confirms, first of all, that both groups of newcomers experience a decrease in religious practices after the migratory event. This decrease is more pronounced among Muslim Turks than among Catholic Poles and more pertinent for worship attendance than for prayer, thus attesting to the relevance of religious opportunity structure. Secondly, it can be shown that among new Polish immigrants, religious decrease is more pronounced among individuals with stronger social ties to the secular German mainstream, while this is not the case for Turks. For them, thirdly, it seems that religious practices are being re-captured after the rather disruptive first couple of months in what may a called a process of religious re-organizations. These group-comparative findings attest to limits of classical assimilation theory and to the relevance of symbolic boundary dynamics. Overall, they underline that publicly visible religious diversity will remain a permanent feature of modern immigrant societies.     

Family,religion, and work among Arab American women

Using data from a national survey of 501 Arab American women, this study examines the extent to which family behavior mediates the influence of religion on women's labor force activity. Prior research on families has largely overlooked the role of religion in influencing women's labor force decisions, particularly at different stages of the life cycle. The analysis begins to address this gap by examining whether religious affiliation and religiosity have direct relationships to women's work behaviors, or whether they primarily operate through family behaviors at different phases of the life course. The results show that religiosity exerts a negative influence on women's labor force participation, but only when children are present in the home. Among women with no children, religiosity has no effect on employment.     

Religion and the environmental opinion in 22 countries: a comparative study

The objective is to test if religiosity affects environmental opinion in Europe. Using data from European Social Survey (ESS) 2002/2003, the study answers three questions. At the societal level: Is public opinion about the environment different in political systems with different Christian traditions? Is environmental concern less or higher in the public opinion depending on the degree of secularization in the political systems? At the individual level: Is the environmental opinion of the individual affected by the personal confession of faith, religious involvement, and the dominant religious context? At the societal level, the findings show stronger concern for the environment in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries than in Protestant countries. The tendency also shows a weakened concern for the environment in countries with a rather secular population. At the individual level, there are significant positive effects on environmental care from Catholic culture, negative effect from Protestant culture, and no effect from religious involvement.     

A comparison of African American and white college students’ affective and attitudinal reactions to lesbian,gay, and bisexual individuals: An exploratory study

African American (n = 70) university students were compared with White students (n = 140) on their affective (homophobia) and attitudinal (homonegativity) reactions to lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. The results initially suggested that African Americans had modestly higher homophobia and homonegativity scores than Whites. However, those ethnic differences vanished after controlling for frequency of church attendance, religious commitment, and socioeconomic status. For both ethnic groups, gender and religiosity variables significantly predicted homophobia and homonegativity. Men in both ethnic groups had significantly higher homophobia and homonegativity scores than their female counterparts. Lastly, additional regression analyses revealed that one aspect of African American culture—family practices—significantly predicted homophobia, but not homonegativity, above the predictive ability of religiosity. Implications of the results are discussed.     

RELIGIOUS REFERENCE GROUPS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF NORMATIVE BEHAVIOR: AN EMPIRICAL TEST

Reference groups and significant others are vitally important in both the formation and the persistence or change of normative as well as deviant behavior patterns. Thus one's initial religious beliefs and behavior (or lack thereof) reflect the socializing influence of the family. However, the situation may change when young people leave home for education or work, as demonstrated by research that shows decreases in religious beliefs or church attendance when young people leave home to attend college. In contrast to the pattern whereby religiosity declines in a college or university environment, we maintain that students who develop close ties with others who are religious, especially in a highly religious community, will maintain the same patterns of high commitment developed in their families. Specifically, we hypothesize that religious beliefs and participation will be positively related to (1) parents' religious beliefs and practices and (2) current friends' religious beliefs and participation. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of college students living on campus (n = 339). The data support the argument that students' current religious beliefs and behavior are related to both their parents' religiosity and the reinforcing effects of the religiosity of their current friends.     

Beyond the Nuclear Family? Familism and Gender Ideology in Diverse Religious Communities

Religious familism, or ideology about "the good family," has been central to the culture and practice of local religious communities in the United States. Recent research has suggested that the "Ozzie and Harriet" familism dominant among mainstream religious groups in the 1950s religious expansion has remained formative for many local religious communities in the intervening decades. This research suggests that religious familism shapes how gender is symbolized and enacted in local religious communities and leads to differences in the meaning of religious participation for contemporary men and women. However, this work has been based largely on studies of white, middle-class religious communities. In this article, we analyze the relationship between family ideology and gender in three congregations chosen to exemplify those social locations where we would expect considerable distance from the 1950s "Ozzie and Harriet" ideal—one Hispanic Catholic parish, one African-American congregation in the black Church tradition, and one white liberal Protestant congregation that has adopted an open and affirming stance toward homosexuality and same-sex unions. We find considerable innovation in family-oriented rhetoric and ministry, and a range of gendered practices that prove considerably more inclusive than those found in previous research. We also find considerable symbolic affirmation of the value of more traditional gender roles and practices, particularly in the realm of the family, than we expected to find. We explore the implications of these findings for how we understand the production of gender in local religious communities and for the capacity of local religious communities to become truly gender-inclusive spaces.     

Cultural Influences on Immigrant Women's Labor Force Participation: The Arab‐American Case1

Research on the economic activity of immigrant women has flourished in recent years. The current study extends this literature to examine the labor force activity of Arab‐American women, a group whose labor market experiences provide an exception to hitherto accepted theoretical explanations. The employment rates of Arab immigrant women rank among the lowest of any immigrant group, while the rates of native‐born Arab‐American women resemble those of U.S.‐born white women. This study examines potential explanations for these differences using data from the U.S. Census and a national mail survey of Arab‐American women. Contrary to findings for other immigrant groups, differences among Arab‐American women cannot be explained by their human capital characteristics or family resources, but are almost entirely due to traditional cultural norms that prioritize women's family obligations over their economic activity, and to ethnic and religious social networks that encourage the maintenance of traditional gender roles. This study concludes by underscoring the need for additional research on the impact of culture on immigrant women's employment.     

Religion und Bildungserfolg im Migrationskontext – Theoretische Argumente,empirische Befunde und offene Fragen

Religion has received extensive attention as a factor influencing immigrants’ integration. This paper examines the role of religion in explaining ethnic educational inequalities in Germany. Due to a general lack of research in this field, the paper provides an overview of existing empirical findings, specifies theoretical arguments on how religious affiliation, belief and participation possibly affect educational achievement among children of immigrants. Using data from the first wave of the “Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in four European Countries” collected in 2010/11 the paper tests key arguments on the influence of religion on the educational attainment among 14-year-old immigrant and non-immigrant students at German schools. Compared to other religious groups, Muslims display lower rates of educational achievement. However, this can be largely explained by their social background and is independent from their levels of individual religiosity. Interestingly, individual religiosity has a positive effect on the educational achievement among Protestant students, whether with or without a migration background.     

Youth participation in ‘post‐secular’ times: young Muslim and Buddhist practitioners as religious citizens

Recently there has been renewed interest in the role of religion in the public sphere in the context of a ‘post‐secular’ age characterized by the resurgence of religious identities and communities in increasingly diverse, multi‐faith societies. Young people's active political and civic engagement has also emerged as a core challenge for robust democracies. While an interesting body of current research suggests that religious commitment may cultivate participation amongst youth by acting as an incubator of civic and political engagement, such literature often positions religiosity as outside of, and consequently at odds with participation in a secular public sphere. We suggest that while religiosity may indeed act as an incubator for civic and political engagement, we propose greater attention to an emergence of alternative, entwined conceptualizations of religious citizenship evident in the practices, performances and dispositions of young Muslim and Buddhist religious practitioners in Australia, whereby processes of individuation contribute to greater fluidity within and across the domains of the religious and the civic.     

RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND ADOLESCENT FAMILY DYNAMICS

Much more has been documented about the influence of religion on parenting practices than on how the former may shape family life from the perspective of adolescents. Building a conceptual model of religion and changing family relations, we assessed the particular influence of adolescent religious change on the dynamics of their relationships with their parents, and overall satisfaction with their families. Employing data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), results suggested that growth in personal religious salience—how important religion is in adolescents' lives—is uniquely and consistently related to better family relations, even after accounting for behavioral changes—such as excessive drinking and drug abuse—that are detrimental to both religiosity and family relations.     

Religiosity and alcohol behavior: An exploration of reference group theory

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and alcohol use and perceived misuse. Unlike most past research, we focus on adults rather than adolescents and distinguish among specific Protestant denominations. We also use a more appropriate statistical technique and place the findings in a theoretical context. The analysis shows that religiosity is clearly related to alcohol use, mainly because people's religion serves as a reference group influencing their behavior. The analysis also shows that religiosity is not related to perceived misuse of alcohol, mainly because societal norms are congruent with religious norms and, hence, appear to overwhelm any effect of religion.     

Religious Affiliation,Religiosity, and Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Parenting

Legalizing marriage and facilitating access to parenting for same-sex couples are controversial subjects in many countries. Based on a survey of 1,861 French heterosexual students, this study examined the effects of gender, methods gays and lesbians use to become parents, religious affiliation (Catholic vs. no religious affiliation), and religiosity (in Catholic participants) on attitudes to same-sex parenting. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 66 (M = 22.27, SD = 5.20), 67% were women, 31% described themselves as Catholic, and 69% had no religious affiliation. The results based on generalized estimating equation analyses indicate that women were more favorable to same-sex parenting than men and that participants across religious groups preferred “traditional” families composed of two, different-sex parents who do not use medically assisted procreation. Of all the methods same-sex couples use to become parents, respondents preferred adoption and rejected surrogacy. Furthermore, Catholic participants were less favorable of same-sex parenting in general than participants without religious affiliation. Higher levels of religiosity intensified that rejection. Gender does not mitigate this effect for Catholic participants, suggesting that religiosity plays a major and independent role in shaping attitudes to same-sex parenting.