Contextualizing Religious Acculturation

Abstract

Given the growing presence of Islam in Europe, we developed a research program articulating minority perspectives on acculturation and religion among self-identified Muslims across Europe. Integrating different cross-cultural perspectives on religious acculturation, we ask how acculturation contexts and processes affect the religiosity of Muslims (a) across heritage and mainstream cultures, (b) across different acculturating groups, and (c) across different receiving societies. Based on various large-scale datasets, collected among (young) Muslim populations from different ethnic backgrounds in four European countries, we conclude that religious decline in European societies is largely absent. A comparison across cultures of origin and destination suggests the reaffirmation of religion in acculturating youth, who are more strongly identified with their religion than comparison groups in both mainstream and heritage cultures. Cross-ethnic comparisons indicate that religious socialization is most effective in more cohesive acculturating groups. Finally, cross-national comparisons provide evidence of more strict forms of religiosity in societies with less welcoming intergroup climates. Together, the cross-cultural findings extend a well-established bi-dimensional conceptualization of acculturation to the religious domain.