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What are the Impacts of Religious Diversity? Regions in Three European Countries Compared
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In Europe the phenomenon of the religious pluralisation is still relatively young. In contrast to the USA there is no centuries-old history of religious pluralism. In order to explore the emergence and the course of religious pluralisation in Europe, the interest of the research project is related to the following questions:
• Which are the country-specific conditions, under which religious pluralisation in Europe emerges?
• Which are the respective driving forces pushing the process of religious pluralisation?
• Which are the social consequences of religious pluralisation?
In order to consider different country-specific contexts, three European countries (Finland, Germany and Slovenia) with different socio-structural and religious basic conditions were chosen. A special focus was laid on the respective state-church relationship. According to David Martin, Finland is an example of the Lutheran pattern, Germany represents the mixed or dualistic pattern, and Slovenia the Latin pattern.
In order to explore the course and the intensity of religious pluralisation in the three countries, one has to consider the different driving forces of pluralisation. Ecological data shows, that in all the three countries migration can be considered as an a outstanding driving force of pluralisation, a further factor is the differentiation of the Christian milieu. Apart from this the "new religious movements" provide for a further force of pluralisation in the three countries.
The greatest extent of religious plurality was found in Germany, followed by Finland and Slovenia. In each country the degree of religious plurality was measured with two different indices:
• On the one hand the state of religious plurality was captured by the diversity of religious membership relations – here the so called adherence Adherence Diversity Index was used.
• On the other hand the Organizational Diversity Index was applied to catch the diversity of the local religious organizations (independent from membership rates).
Within the three countries different areas were regarded, which vary in the degree of urbanity and industrialization. For all three countries the data show a strong gap between densely populated, urban areas and sparsely populated, rural areas: The extent of religious pluralisation directly correlates with the population density.
In order to explore the consequences of religious pluralisation the project asked, how the pluralisation of religious offers affects the religious ideas and practices of the population. The importance of religious constructs was measured by the Centrality Concept (developed by Stefan Huber). Apart from genuine religious impacts of religious pluralisation the project further asked for the civil society effects of religious pluralisation. The following chapter presents the most important interrelationships for the three countries:
• Germany: Both membership diversity and organizational diversity have a negative influence on the centrality of religious constructs: Religious diversity weakens religious attitudes. The higher the degree of ecological diversity in a certain area, the weaker is the influence of religious constructs on the actors world views. On the other hand - concerning the civil society aspects - religious diversity can be regarded as a cohesive force. Tolerance towards other religions is increased, fundamentalist attitudes are weakened.
• Finland: Both membership diversity and organizational diversity have a positive influence on the centrality of religious constructs: The higher the degree of ecological diversity in a certain area, the stronger is the influence of religious constructs on people’s experiencing and acting. Like in Germany diversity can be regarded as a cohesive force. Tolerance towards other religions is increased. Fundamentalist attitudes are weakened.
• Slovenia: Membership diversity and organizational diversity have a negative or not significant influence on the centrality of religious constructs: The higher the degree of membership diversity in a certain area, the weaker is the influence of religious constructs on people’s experiencing and acting. Like in Germany and Finland tolerance is strengthened. Fundamentalist attitudes towards other religions are weakened by the experience of religious diversity.
Apart from country-specific differences the results show that the influences produced by the process of pluralisation remain weak. Thus, religious pluralisation surely is a detectable phenomenon in Europe, but so far one cannot speak of a strong force of religious and social change.
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What are the Impacts of Religious Diversity? Regions in Three European Countries Compared
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EmailProf. Dr. Volkhard Krech
Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Protestant Theology
Contact: volkhard.krech@rub.de
• Which are the country-specific conditions, under which religious pluralisation in Europe emerges?
• Which are the respective driving forces pushing the process of religious pluralisation?
• Which are the social consequences of religious pluralisation?
Country specific conditions
In order to consider different country-specific contexts, three European countries (Finland, Germany and Slovenia) with different socio-structural and religious basic conditions were chosen. A special focus was laid on the respective state-church relationship. According to David Martin, Finland is an example of the Lutheran pattern, Germany represents the mixed or dualistic pattern, and Slovenia the Latin pattern.
In order to explore the course and the intensity of religious pluralisation in the three countries, one has to consider the different driving forces of pluralisation. Ecological data shows, that in all the three countries migration can be considered as an a outstanding driving force of pluralisation, a further factor is the differentiation of the Christian milieu. Apart from this the "new religious movements" provide for a further force of pluralisation in the three countries.
The greatest extent of religious plurality was found in Germany, followed by Finland and Slovenia. In each country the degree of religious plurality was measured with two different indices:
• On the one hand the state of religious plurality was captured by the diversity of religious membership relations – here the so called adherence Adherence Diversity Index was used.
• On the other hand the Organizational Diversity Index was applied to catch the diversity of the local religious organizations (independent from membership rates).
Within the three countries different areas were regarded, which vary in the degree of urbanity and industrialization. For all three countries the data show a strong gap between densely populated, urban areas and sparsely populated, rural areas: The extent of religious pluralisation directly correlates with the population density.
Social and religious consequences of pluralisation
In order to explore the consequences of religious pluralisation the project asked, how the pluralisation of religious offers affects the religious ideas and practices of the population. The importance of religious constructs was measured by the Centrality Concept (developed by Stefan Huber). Apart from genuine religious impacts of religious pluralisation the project further asked for the civil society effects of religious pluralisation. The following chapter presents the most important interrelationships for the three countries:
• Germany: Both membership diversity and organizational diversity have a negative influence on the centrality of religious constructs: Religious diversity weakens religious attitudes. The higher the degree of ecological diversity in a certain area, the weaker is the influence of religious constructs on the actors world views. On the other hand - concerning the civil society aspects - religious diversity can be regarded as a cohesive force. Tolerance towards other religions is increased, fundamentalist attitudes are weakened.
• Finland: Both membership diversity and organizational diversity have a positive influence on the centrality of religious constructs: The higher the degree of ecological diversity in a certain area, the stronger is the influence of religious constructs on people’s experiencing and acting. Like in Germany diversity can be regarded as a cohesive force. Tolerance towards other religions is increased. Fundamentalist attitudes are weakened.
• Slovenia: Membership diversity and organizational diversity have a negative or not significant influence on the centrality of religious constructs: The higher the degree of membership diversity in a certain area, the weaker is the influence of religious constructs on people’s experiencing and acting. Like in Germany and Finland tolerance is strengthened. Fundamentalist attitudes towards other religions are weakened by the experience of religious diversity.
Apart from country-specific differences the results show that the influences produced by the process of pluralisation remain weak. Thus, religious pluralisation surely is a detectable phenomenon in Europe, but so far one cannot speak of a strong force of religious and social change.
