Dimensions of Religiosity and the Perception of the Importance of Religion in Everyday Life and Politics

Abstract

The Catholic religion has been inextricably connected with the Polish state through numerous historical experiences. Being an important aspect of connecting society, it can be used in an instrumental way on the political agenda. Moreover, religiousness is an important determinant of electoral decisions. The aim of the research (N=238) is to check whether religiosity affects the perception of the importance of religious principles in everyday life and religion in political life. In the presented approach, religiosity was a multidimensional variable and was conceptualized using a modified five-point Religiosity Centrality Scale (Huber 2003). It was confirmed that all dimensions of religiosity are significantly related to the assessment of the importance of religious principles. The dimension that showed the strongest correlation with the created variables was the dimension of religious cult, and the dimension that correlated the least was the dimension of reading the Catholic press.