TY - JOUR
T1 - Secularization and changing moral views
T2 - European trends in church attendance and views on homosexuality, divorce, abortion, and euthanasia
AU - Halman, L.C.J.M.
AU - van Ingen, E.J.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Analysing survey data from the European Values Study, we investigate whether and how changes in church attendance bring about changes in people’s acceptance of abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and euthanasia. We argue that decreasing church attendance not only should enhance overall acceptance of these moral issues, but it should also lead to greater diversity in opinions on them. From our analyses, we can indeed conclude that declining levels of church attendance have been accompanied by greater permissiveness and increased diversity in attitudes towards abortion, divorce, and euthanasia. However, opinions about homosexuality hardly seem affected by developments in religiosity. Moreover, the trends in Western and Eastern Europe appear rather different. Eastern Europeans are far more conservative; in fact, no significant changes in church attendance levels (on average) were found there. The association between church attendance and moral views is in general weaker in Central and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe, and is even absent in some cases.
AB - Analysing survey data from the European Values Study, we investigate whether and how changes in church attendance bring about changes in people’s acceptance of abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and euthanasia. We argue that decreasing church attendance not only should enhance overall acceptance of these moral issues, but it should also lead to greater diversity in opinions on them. From our analyses, we can indeed conclude that declining levels of church attendance have been accompanied by greater permissiveness and increased diversity in attitudes towards abortion, divorce, and euthanasia. However, opinions about homosexuality hardly seem affected by developments in religiosity. Moreover, the trends in Western and Eastern Europe appear rather different. Eastern Europeans are far more conservative; in fact, no significant changes in church attendance levels (on average) were found there. The association between church attendance and moral views is in general weaker in Central and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe, and is even absent in some cases.
U2 - 10.1093/esr/jcv064
DO - 10.1093/esr/jcv064
M3 - Article
SN - 0266-7215
VL - 31
SP - 616
EP - 627
JO - European Sociological Review
JF - European Sociological Review
IS - 5
ER -