Are Religious People the Better Democratic Citizens?

Abstract

This research report asks whether religious people differ significantly from non-religious people when it comes to attitudes towards democracy and citizenship. Religions present an ambivalent picture. They can see themselves as an integrative part of society in which they make their contribution to cohesion. But religions can also establish a parallel order and demand allegiance to it, they can place religious order above political order or even replace the political order with the religious one. It is therefore not clear how religious people evaluate the foundations of the political order, whether they are supporters of democracy and citizenship, or whether they are rather not to be counted on. The empirical survey was conducted in Germany with N = 1000 respondents in the age from 14 to 89. The analyses distinguish between highly religious and non-religious respectively weakly religious respondents. Parameters are religious beliefs, religious practice, belief in God and positions on the public role of religious communities. Democracy is surveyed as approval of the democratic system, political institutions and social trust. Citizenship is measured by attitudes towards nationalism and internationalism, participation, acceptance of migrants and refugees. T-tests show significant differences in many cases, with highly religious respondents either being more positive about democracy and citizenship or less negative than non-religious respondents. Even if these results are clear, caution is needed in describing highly religious people as the better democratic citizens until further indicators have been tested for their explanatory power, so that the religious indicators can be related.

This text was presented during the International Conference Religion , Democracy and Citizenship , 10–13 October 2019 in Würzburg. The stylistic elements of the lecture were not completely changed.