Ethnic Identity in American History and America’s Exceptional Religiosity: Theory and Some Evidence

Abstract

Why is religiosity in contemporary America exceptionally high relative to those in other rich countries? I develop a simple theory that hinges on the sense of security of immigrant-identity, which is informed by both religion and ethnicity. Commitments to religion and to ethnicity are complementary in the determination of identity, and immigrants consciously invest in the endogenous component of their sense of identity through the actions they choose (like socializing with an ethnic group or performing religious activities). I demonstrate that the level of religiosity increases with the extent of ethnic fractionalization in the society. I offer some empirical evidence for the theory using contemporary cross-sectional data from the 50 states of the U.S. I test this theory against two alternative theories that have been offered to explain the high American religiosity. I find a robust positive and statistical significant correlation between religiosity and state-level ethnic fractionalization. When tested with world data, the model is rejected—lending further support for the claim that America’s religiosity derives from its unique history of exceptionally high and ethnically diverse immigration.