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Secular Tolerance? Anti‐Muslim Sentiment in Western Europe
Author(s) -
Ribberink Egbert,
Achterberg Peter,
Houtman Dick
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/jssr.12335
Subject(s) - secularization , islam , secularism , religious studies , value (mathematics) , sociology of religion , sociology , competition (biology) , political science , demographic economics , philosophy , theology , economics , mathematics , statistics , ecology , biology
The literature about secularization proposes two distinct explanations of anti‐Muslim sentiment in secularized societies. The first theory understands it in terms of religious competition between Muslims and the remaining minority of orthodox Protestants; the second understands it as resulting from value conflicts between Muslims and the nonreligious majority. The two theories are tested by means of a multilevel analysis of the European Values Study 2008. Our findings indicate that, although more secularized countries are on average more tolerant towards Muslims and Islam, strongest anti‐Muslim attitudes are nonetheless found among the nonreligious in these countries.