Chapter Nine. Impact Of Religion On Attitudes Toward Religious Freedom And The Separation Of Church And State

Abstract

This chapter determines how religion, via morality, influences the other systems, more particularly the legal-cultural subsystem, and what role its soteriological orientation plays in this regard. Then the general question is specified: what aspects of religions influence the other systems, i.e. the legal-cultural subsystem? The chapter formulates certain hypotheses about the influence of religious beliefs and rites on this subsystem, which refers to religious freedom and the separation of church and state in particular. It then turns to empirical study. The first step of our empirical research is to measure the religious beliefs and rites among the three groups of Christian, Muslim, and nonreligious youths. The second step is to measure the effects of religious beliefs and rites on the youths' attitudes towards religious freedom and the separation of church and state. Finally, the chapter reflects on findings.Keywords: legal-cultural subsystem; morality; religion; religious beliefs; religious freedom; religious rites; soteriological orientation