Causal relationship between religiosity and value priorities: Cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations.

Abstract

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Hong Kong General Research Fund (Project number: 17604915). We thank Doris Mok, who passed away in 2016, for her suggestions at the design phase of this project, Sing-hang Cheung for his valuable input on dataanalysis, Wai-Luen Kwok for insights from a theological perspective, and Jasmine Lam for her assistance in data management.

Human Values and Religion: Evidence from the European Social Survey

“…Accordingly, religious beliefs and customs markedly influence the formation of moral, social, and even political and economic value systems (Kørup et al 2020;Santos et al 2012). Theoretically, values and religion are understood to be considerably related in various ways (Chan et al 2020;Ives and Kidwell 2019;Musek 2017), in different cultural and religious groups (Saroglou et al 2004). This association between values and religion can be established in two different ways: directly or indirectly.…”

“…This theme was the subject of study by philosophers, sociologists, and political theorists, such as, for example, Marx (1964) who saw religion as the opium of the masses, being the source of the motivation for change in society, and who suggested that religious people tend to value humility and obedience and to devalue independence and power. Religious people tend to be more conservative in their political attitudes (Devos et al 2002) and therefore are less involved in risky behavior, which means that they have a certain tendency, oriented towards security (Chan et al 2020). They tend to favor values that promote the conservation of the social and individual order (tradition, conformity and, to a lesser extent, security) and, conversely, not to value the values that promote openness to change (stimulation, self-direction).…”

“…The magnitude of the effects between this association between religion and human values seemed to depend on the socioeconomic development of the countries in question. It has been proven that the more developed the country was, the less positive the association between values and religiosity, namely in conservation values (conformity, tradition, and security), contrary to the values of universalism, achievement, and self-direction, which presented a less negative association (Chan et al 2020). With regard to benevolence, this was more positive, and power was more negative in more developed countries.…”

“…As for the values of hedonism, there were no influences of socioeconomic development in the association between values and religiosity. It is also possible to establish a comparison between Mediterranean countries and Western countries, with the presence of religiosity in the former reflecting higher conservation values (conformity, tradition, and security), when compared to the latter (Chan et al 2020). In turn, Western countries presented lower values in hedonism and openness to change (hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction).…”

“…Thus, the search for values related to religion is a relevant task in psychology and other social sciences (Leite et al 2020). These two constructs are correlated; however, it is not clear whether this is because certain values predispose someone to become and remain religious or if religious people are more likely to adopt these values (Chan et al 2020). It is well known that the religious groups that individuals join and the extent of their religiosity are important aspects both in personal and social identity (Sagiv et al 2017).…”