Assessing attitude toward religious diversity among Muslim adolescents in the UK: the effect of religious and theological factors

Abstract

Understanding variations in public attitudes toward religious diversity is a matter of concern within both the social scientific study of religion (concerned with religious factors) and empirical theology (concerned with theological factors). Drawing on data provided by 335 13- to 15-year-old Muslim students from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, this study tests the power of religious factors and theological factors to explain variance within the Muslim Attitude toward Religious Diversity Index (MARDI). Regression analyses demonstrate that theological factors account for much more variance than religious factors in explaining individual differences in Muslim students’ attitudes toward religious diversity. In this regard, understanding Muslim students’ theological identity is more important than understanding their religious practice.