Religion and Value Orientations in Europe

Abstract

Sociological literature on Europe often claims a close relationship between religion and values on the one hand and shared values and social cohesion on the other: This article empirically tests the first half of this equation. On the basis of the European Social Survey 2004 comprising of the Schwartz’ Human Value Scale, we analyse if value orientations of religious people differ from those preferred by non-religious people and if such patterns are stable across Europe. We find that religious people in Europe differ from non-religious people in being more conservative and perceiving rules and customs as very important in their lives. We use different indicators for individual religiousness in order to test their different impacts on individual value formation. Despite popular expectations, we were able to establish that value orientations are less influenced by theological knowledge than practicing religion.