Knowing, understanding and practising democratic citizenship: an investigation of the role of religion among Muslim, Christian and non-religious adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the relation between religiosity and civic competences required to practise democratic citizenship. We compare non-religious, Christian and Muslim adolescents in the Netherlands to see whether (a) there is a relation between religion and civic competences, and (b) whether this differs depending on religious denomination. In the public debate, the reconcilability of Islamic beliefs and democratic citizenship is often questioned, but the relation between the two lacks empirical support. Results from analyses on data of 364 adolescents in the Netherlands indicate that religious adolescents have more developed democratic competences than non-religious adolescents. This is the case both for Christian and Muslim adolescents. The strength of religiosity does not play a role in predicting civic competences. Importantly, no differences are found between the civic competences of Muslim and Christian youth.

Keywords:

• Democracy
• citizenship
• civic competence
• religion
• Christian
• Muslim

Notes

1. All respondents are in the third year of vocational high school education. In order to proceed to this level, their Dutch reading and writing needs to be fluent.