Religiosity and Social Values of the Cypriots

Abstract

The authors explore some of the social values and religiosity of the separated Turkish and Greek speaking communities in Cyprus in light of the European Union's objectives of unifying the island, and promoting the social value of tolerance. They find that the two communities are more similar to each other in religiosity than they are to most other European states, but are more similar in formal and personal religiosity to their opposite mainland counterparts. Religion, education, age and political orientation are major indicators of intolerance. The effects of religion, personal and formal religiosity and political orientation are reversed or mediated by the community, providing insight for European Union and Cypriot policy-makers.