Abstract
Drawing on such theoretical paradigms as Social Identity Theory, the deprivation hypothesis, and the concept of trust, we sought to investigate how religiosity relates to attitudes towards Islam among the Swiss population. In this quantitative study based on the data of the Swiss Household Panel 2015 (n=10,848) we took into account both public religious practice and personal religiosity. A hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that religiosity influenced attitudes towards Islam, in that affiliation to one of the large churches (Protestant or Catholic), had a weak positive influence, which might in turn reflect a focus within the large churches on religious freedom and inter-religious dialogue. The effect of church attendance in general on attitudes was positive albeit rather weak. In comparison, personal religiosity was important, with people with a high level of personal religiosity being more likely to have a positive attitude towards Islam. One important finding was that religiosity contributed more to explaining variance than did other factors such as social trust, political position or national identity. Other influential factors included political attitude and trust in other people. The study also revealed that those Swiss people for whom national identity was particularly important were more likely to have a negative view of Islam. While belonging to an Evangelical denomination was significant in our regression models, and exerted an even stronger negative impact when variables of religiosity were included, the impact lost its significance in models which included the importance of Swiss identity. We conclude that Evangelicals are more negative towards Islam not because of their religiosity, but because they tend to have a strong national identity.
Highlights
Religiosity in connection with Islamophobia is currently an important issue for two reasons
Using a cluster analysis of data from a population survey in Münster. They differentiate between three milieus: the goodwill-tolerants, who are mostly tolerant of all religions, who do not regard immigration by Muslims as a problem, and who support the buildings of mosques; the critically-tolerant, who mostly perceive Muslims as a cause of conflict, but at the same time approve the building of mosques; and the threatened, who mostly believe that Muslims cause societal conflicts, and who are unlikely to support the building of mosques
We were concerned here with the question of which factors influence attitudes towards Islam. Drawing on such theoretical paradigms as Social Identity Theory, the deprivation hypothesis, and the concept of trust, we sought to investigate how religiosity relates to attitudes towards Islam
Summary
Religiosity in connection with Islamophobia is currently an important issue for two reasons. Switzerland is an example of a country where a right-wing populist party, the “Schweizerische Volkspartei” (SVP), has been the strongest party since the parliamentary elections in 1999 It demands a restrictive immigration policy and the combatting of radical Islam, which, according to its critics, limits the lives of moderate Muslims. Other demands include restrictions on the import of halal meat, a ban on Islamic religious care, preventing the education of imams at state universities, and withholding legal recognition from Islamic religious communities (ibid.). Given this background, it is not surprising that there are anti-Muslim crimes. This paper is primarily concerned with finding out what role religion or religiosity, in interaction with other factors, plays in explaining attitudes towards Islam
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