National Context, Parental Socialization, and Religious Belief: Results from 15 Nations

Abstract

ear regression to control for a nation's level of economic development and exposure to Communism, andfor the individual's denomination, age, gender, and education. We find that (1) people living in religious nations will, in proportion to the religiosity of their fellow-citizens, acquire more orthodox beliefs than otherwise similar people living in secular nations; (2) in relatively secular nations, family religiosity strongly shapes children's religious beliefs, while the influence of national religious context is small; (3) in relatively religious nations family religiosity, although important, has less effect on children's beliefs than does national context. These three patterns hold in rich nations and in poor nations, in formerly Communist nations and in established democracies, and among old and young, men and women, the welleducated and the poorly educated, andfor Catholics and Protestants. Findings on the link between belief and church attendance are inconsistent with the influential supply-side analysis of differences between nations. R eligion remains a central element of modern life, shaping people's worldviews, moral standards, family lives, and in many nations, their politics. But in many Western nations, modernization and secularization may be eroding Christian beliefs, with profound consequences that have intrigued sociologists since Durkheim. Yet this much touted secularization may be overstated-certainly it varies widely among nations and is absent in the United States