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The International Social Survey Programme is a cross-national project to run annual social surveys. In 2008, 45 member countries took part.

Religion was the focus of the ISSP in 1991 and again in 1998. Religion III was conducted in 2008, replicating many questions from the Religion I and Religion II surveys. It is scheduled for release in 2010, when the data will be published at ZACAT. Together, the three surveys will constitute the best longitudinal, multinational resource in existence on religion.

The ISSP usually only surveys about 1,000 people in each country, however, which makes it difficult to conduct detailed analysis of population subgroups or change over time. Furthermore, the replication of questions from previous surveys, while important for measuring change, means that relatively little space is available to cover new issues.  It would be useful to explore the repercussions of growing religious diversity, scientific advances such as embryonic stem cell research, and changing family forms.

A consortium of researchers in Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland and Northern Ireland accordingly proposed to extend the sample size in their countries to 2000 and to add 24 new questions to the survey. These enhancements allow deeper analysis of religion and society both within these five countries and through cross-national comparisons.

The following are examples of the additional questions put to respondents relating to the accommodation of religious diversity:

Some schools are for children of a particular religion.  Which of the statements on this card comes closest to your views about these schools? 
“No religious group should have its own schools”
“Some religious groups but not others should have their own schools”
“Any religious group should be able to have its own schools”.

Some books or films offend people who have strong religious beliefs. Should books and films that attack religions be banned by law or should they be allowed?
   
Some people say that being Christian is important for being truly British [or Catholic and Irish, or Christian and Danish or Dutch as appropriate]. Others say it is not important. How important do you think it is? 
   
Other extension questions ask how religious the respondents’ parents were when they were children, and the importance of religion in their lives at present. This will allow future researchers to examine transmission of religiosity between generations. Others ask respondents their attitudes towards gay marriage and adoption, embryo cell research and euthanasia.

For the surveys supplemented with the questions funded by the NORFACE Relemerge progamme, data collection has been completed. The data for Northern Ireland are already publicly available here and the responses to the questions have also been tabulated here.

For other participant countries, the data have not yet been released to the wider public, but researchers have begun exploring their possibilities.

For example, the forthcoming British Social Attitudes: 26th Report (2010) includes two chapters which use some of the sponsored items.

David Voas has also reported some headline findings comparing Britain, the Netherlands and the US, which can be seen here.

Ingrid Storm, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, has also begun exploring how religiosity affects different dimensions of national identity in Britain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Denmark, as part of her doctoral research. Ingrid says, "the different meanings of religious identity in different national contexts fascinate me. In some countries, Christianity has cultural significance for national identity primarily as a proxy for ethnicity, whereas in others it is mainly practising Christians who associate religion with nationality. This research would have been impossible without the additional questions from NORFACE."

The project is thus beginning to yield research findings, even at this early stage. More importantly, it is also a significant addition to the data resources available to sociologists of religion – one which will be of benefit for years to come.

Selected Publications:

Hayes, B. C. & Dowds, L. (2010) Vacant seats and empty pews.  ARK Research Update 65.  Belfast: ARK. available online

McAndrew, S. (2010) Religious faith and contemporary attitudes, pp. 88-114 in British Social Attitudes: the 26th Report, eds. Park, A., Curtice, J., Thomson, K., Phillips, M., Clery, E. & Butt, S.  London: Sage.

Nic Ghiolla Phádraig, M. (2009) Religion in Ireland: No longer an exception?  ARK Research Update 64.  Belfast: ARK.
available online

Storm, I. (Forthcoming 2011) 'Christian Nations'? Ethnic Christianity and anti-immigration attitudes in four Western European countries. Nordic Journal for Religion and Society 24 (1). 

Voas, D. & Ling, R. (2010) Religion in Britain and the United States, pp. 65-86 in British Social Attitudes: the 26th Report, eds. Park, A., Curtice, J., Thomson, K., Phillips, M., Clery, E. & Butt, S.  London: Sage. 

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