In the smoke of the people’s opium: The influence of religious beliefs and activities on protest participation

Abstract

How does religion shape individual decisions to participate in protests? On the one hand, past literature from Tocqueville’s perspective has suggested that people’s involvement in religious activities leads to engagement in civic activities. On the other hand, the Marxist approach has pointed to the possibility that one’s religious belief may rather lead to decreasing participation in civil society. Combining these two conflicting perspectives, this study examines the influence of religious beliefs and activities on protest participation, an increasingly important form of civic participation in contemporary times. Using the World Values Survey across 48 countries, the author’s findings provide support for the Marxist approach by suggesting that people’s religious beliefs are significantly and negatively associated with one’s participation in protests especially in non-Western religions. Additionally, while the results fail to support the Tocquevillian perspective that one’s religious activities are directly related to protest participation, religious activities do have a countervailing effect by minimizing the negative influence of religious beliefs people hold on protest participation. This study provides important implications to further our understanding on the paradoxical relationship between religion and civic participation.