Religion and Civic Engagement in Muslim Countries

Previous studies of religion on civic and political participation focus primarily on Western Christian societies. Studies of Muslim societies concentrate on Islamic religiosity's effect on attitudes toward democracy, not on how Muslim religious participation carries over into social and politic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion 2012-12, Vol.51 (4), p.607-622
Main Author: Sarkissian, Ani
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Christianity
Citizen Participation
civic engagement
Civics
Civil society
Democracy
History and sciences of religions
Islam
Islamic countries
Muslims
Participation
Political behavior
Political Participation
Polls & surveys
Prayer
Religion & politics
Religion Politics Relationship
Religions
Religiosity
Religious Beliefs
Religious organizations
Religious sociology
Social capital
Studies in religion
Trust
Values
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Summary:Previous studies of religion on civic and political participation focus primarily on Western Christian societies. Studies of Muslim societies concentrate on Islamic religiosity's effect on attitudes toward democracy, not on how Muslim religious participation carries over into social and political arenas. This article examines the relationship between religion and civic engagement in nine Muslim-majority countries using data from the World Values Surveys. I find that active participation in Muslim organizations is associated with greater civic engagement, while religious service attendance is not. In a subset of countries, daily prayer is associated with less civic engagement. The main area in which Muslim societies differ from Western ones is in the lack of association between civic engagement, trust, and tolerance. Religious participation is a more significant predictor of secular engagement than commonly used "social capital" measures, suggesting a need to adapt measures of religiosity to account for differences in religious expression across non-Christian faiths.
ISSN:0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2012.01677.x