Most measures of
religiosity
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines religiosity as: "Religiousness; religious feeling or belief. ..Affected or excessive religiousness". Different scholars have seen this concept as broadly about religious orientations and degrees of inv ...
, such as church attendance and affiliation, are positively correlated with the
authoritarian personality
The authoritarian personality is a personality type characterized by a disposition to treat authority figures with unquestioning obedience and respect. Conceptually, the term ''authoritarian personality'' originated from the writings of Erich Fr ...
cluster, which includes submission to authority,
conventionality, and intolerance of
out-groups.
religious fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...
(defined as belief in an "inerrant set of religious teachings") and authoritarianism, both of which are characterized by low openness to experience
Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe personality psychology, human personality in the Big Five personality traits, Five Factor Model. Openness involves six Facet (psychology), facets, or dimensions: active imagina ...
, high rigidity, and low cognitive complexity
Cognitive complexity describes cognition along a simplicity-complexity axis. It is the subject of academic study in fields including personal construct psychology, organisational theory and human–computer interaction.
History
The concept of ...
.
Background
Hundreds of scientific articles have been published investigating the connections between religion and authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
. There is a distinction between psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
, which treats authoritarianism as innate to the personality, and sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, which considers authoritarianism a result of one's environment and posits that it may be influenced by factors such as religion.[
]
A longitudinal study of Americans born in the 1920s found that this effect held for traditional church-centered religion but not for those that are seeking non-institutional spirituality. The latter mode of religion is "characterized by an openness to new experiences and by creativity and experimentation, characteristics that are antithetical to the conventionality that adheres in authoritarianism".[
]
Specific cases
Throughout history, authoritarian leaders have adopted different policies towards religion, from state atheism
State atheism or atheist state is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into Forms of government, political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments ...
to drawing support from religion or co-opting religious leaders and institutions. As part of civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.[Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...]
enjoys a state monopoly and state subsidies, as well as a blasphemy law
A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of Reverence (attitude), reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Re ...
that protects it from criticism. Authoritarian leaders may fear that religion will be the source of political opposition, instability, or outright rebellion. Indeed, some scholars and political leaders, such as Václav Havel
Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
, have praised the role of religion in undermining authoritarian governments. However, in other cases, religions have engaged in alliances with the state, and religious institutions are not necessarily pockets of dissent or incubators of democracy. Unregistered or minority religions have been suppressed by state authoritarian regimes, such as house churches in China. In 1999, Falun Gong practitioners launched widespread protests against the Chinese government, which led to the persecution of Falun Gong.
See also
* Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic
* Christian right
The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...
* Hindutva
Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...
* Integralism
* Islamic state
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
* Jewish right
* Russian Orthodox Church during the Russian revolution
* Wahhabism
Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to oth ...
* Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
References
Bibliography
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* The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
Further reading
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{{Authoritarian types of rule
Religion and government
Sociology of religion
Psychology of religion
Authoritarianism