Stefanie Doebler

Relationships between Religion and Two Forms of Homonegativity in Europe—A Multilevel Analysis of Effects of Believing, Belonging and Religious Practice

This paper examines relationships between religion and two forms of homonegativity across 43 European countries using a bivariate response binary logistic multilevel model. The model analyzes effects of religious believing, belonging and practice on two response variables: a) a moral rejection of homosexuality as a practice and b) intolerance toward homosexuals as a group. The findings indicate that both forms of homonegativity are prevalent in Europe. Traditional doctrinal religious believing (belief in a personal God) is positively related to a moral rejection of homosexuality but to a much lesser extent associated with intolerance toward homosexuals as a group. Members of religious denominations are more likely than non-members to reject homosexuality as morally wrong and to reject homosexuals as neighbors. The analysis found significant differences between denominations that are likely context-dependent. Attendance at religious services is positively related to homonegativity in a majority of countries. The findings vary considerably across countries: Religion is more strongly related to homonegativity in Western than in Eastern Europe. In the post-soviet countries homonegativity appears to be largely a secular phenomenon. National contexts of high religiosity, high perceived government corruption, high income inequality and shortcomings in the implementation of gay rights in the countries’ legislations are statistically related to higher levels of both moralistic homonegativity and intolerance toward homosexuals as a group.

Love Thy Neighbor? Relationships between Religion and Racial Intolerance in Europe.

This article examines relationships between religion and racial intolerance across 47 countries by applying multilevel modeling to European survey data and is the first in-depth analysis of moderation of these relationships by European national contexts. The analysis distinguishes a believing, belonging, and practice dimension of religiosity. The results yield little evidence of a link between denominational belonging, religious practice, and racial intolerance. The religiosity dimension that matters most for racial intolerance in Europe is believing: believers in a traditional God and believers in a Spirit/Life Force are decidedly less likely, and fundamentalists are more likely than non-believers to be racially intolerant. National contexts also matter greatly: individuals living in Europes most religious countries, countries with legacies of ethnic-religious conflict and countries with low GDP are significantly more likely to be racially intolerant than those living in wealthier, secular and politically stable countries. This is especially the case for the religiously devout.

Grenzen der Toleranz: Wahrnehmung und Akzeptanz religiöser Vielfalt in Europa

the pressures exercised by Russia and the Ottomans. These pressures have combined with attempts to suppress religion under the Soviets, with the impact of secular influences, including secular versions of nationalism, with the effect of minority status in Muslim majority countries like Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey and with the devastating dispersal following the genocide of 1915. The result has been that Armenia is now one of a number of countries where the diaspora rivals or exceeds in size the population of the ‘home’ territory. What Agadjanian and his contributors discuss is a case of ethno-religiosity, with some modest incursions of pluralism, where new churches are constantly built, where the Church figures in a major way in the construction of a mythic chain of memory purportedly going back to Noah (but certainly including the creation of the Armenian alphabet), and where the role of the Church is now promoted, with some opposition, in the education system. At the same time, there is a quite moderate level of popular participation outside major festivals and some anti-clericalism. The book analyses the various dispersions and the role of religion and the saints in servicing the chain of memory in the very varied circumstances of the remnant of Armenians in Istanbul, Lebanon, St. Petersburg, Romania, Ukraine, etc. Agadjanian’s own chapter looks again at the grassroots religiosity that emerged with the end of the Soviet era, at a time of war, suffering, and nation building, notably the creation of the Brotherhood at the intersection of the national and religious revivals as a source of agency and social capital. This book in an important resource for anyone interested in the paradoxes of desecularisation in the countries of the some time Soviet bloc and for the debates over nationalism and religion associated with major scholars like Anthony Smith.

Secularization in Europe: an analysis of inter-generational religious change

The social and personal significance of religion has declined in most developed countries during recent decades. Secularization appears to be a micro-level process, as well as a macro-level one, so that the late stages of modernization bring declines in religious practice, affiliation and belief. Voas constructed a religiosity scale using variables from the European Social Survey for religious affiliation, frequency of attendance and prayer, self-description as religious, and importance of religion in life. The fourth wave of the European Values Study (EVS) provides new evidence on religious change across the European continent. The generational nature of religious change is consistent with a close connection between religion and personal values. Inglehart and associated scholars have argued that the evolution of society from agrarian through industrial to post-industrial stages tends to produce corresponding shifts in how people are orientated: towards survival, rationality or self-expression. Keywords: European Social Survey; European Values Study (EVS); Inglehart; modernization; religious change; secularization; Voas

Relationships Between Deprivation and the Self-Reported Health of Older People in Northern Ireland:

Objective: There are few studies on relationships between deprivation and the self-reported health of people aged above 64 years, and no studies fully representative of Northern Ireland’s older population. This article addresses this gap. Method: Deprivation of older people as reported in the 2001 and 2011 Censuses and the relationship with self-reported health are analyzed over a 10-year span using multilevel modeling. The data are from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS) linked to 2001-2011 Census returns. Deprivation measures include housing tenure; property value; access to a car; and educational, employment, and area-level income deprivation. Results: Older people suffering deprivation face a significant health disadvantage over a 10-year time span. Discussion: This health disadvantage is stronger in men than in women, likely due to conservative gender roles that are prevalent among Northern Ireland’s older population, leading to psychological distress especially among deprived men. The analysis found strongly significant area-level effects, aggravating the health impact of deprivation.

Is racism the new sectarianism? Negativity towards immigrants and ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland from 2004 to 2015

ABSTRACT Negativity towards ethnic minorities is a serious problem in Northern Ireland. Its history of the Troubles around religious identities makes Northern Ireland a special case in Europe. This paper examines negativity towards Muslims, Eastern Europeans and immigrants in Northern Ireland using data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey and the British Social Attitudes Survey. The results from regressions show that anti-immigrant negativity is no more prevalent in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK. However, levels of negativity towards Muslims and Eastern Europeans are significantly higher than in Great Britain and have increased in recent years, particularly among young adults aged 18–24 years, although older cohorts are more intolerant on average. Our regression analyses found strong positive relationships between anti-immigrant negativity, sectarianism and perceived neighbourhood segregation. Higher education, contacts with minority members and (religiously) mixed schooling are negatively related to negativity towards immigrants.

Access to a Car and the Self-Reported Health and Mental Health of People Aged 65 and Older in Northern Ireland:

This article examines relationships between access to a car and the self-reported health and mental health of older people. The analysis is based on a sample of N = 65,601 individuals aged 65 years and older from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study linked to 2001 and 2011 census returns. The findings from hierarchical linear and binary logistic multilevel path models indicate that having no access to a car is related to a considerable health and mental health disadvantage particularly for older people who live alone. Rural–urban health and mental health differences are mediated by access to a car. The findings support approaches that emphasize the importance of autonomy and independence for the well-being of older people and indicate that not having access to a car can be a problem for older people not only in rural but also in intermediate and urban areas, if no sufficient alternative forms of mobility are provided.