In God we trust – the role of religion for cohesion and integration in current European societies

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate the role of religion for social cohesion and integration in European societies. For the purpose of this article, we assume that religion matters not only in the form of different aspects of individual religiousness, but also as a constituent of the social and legal framework. Social cohesion is understood as the aggregated result of individual vertical and horizontal trust. We use data from the International Social Survey Programme in order to test a comparative multilevel model for the societies of the European Union as to whether trust in others and in political institutions both depend on individual religiousness and the religious framework of society. Without denying the potential exclusive effect of religion, the data show that religion still is important on different societal levels: counter to prevalent findings, a-religiousness and Protestantism on the individual level do not reduce feelings of integration, while independent of the denomination, active community work does increase societal trust. On the country level, we found that a close state–religion relationship and a Protestant majority both increase social cohesion.