Increase or Decrease? The Impact of the International Migratory Event on Immigrant Religious Participation

Abstract

Immigrant religiosity has recently become a hot topic both in academia and in the public arena. For years, a debate has existed as to whether there is an increase or decrease of immigrant religious participation surrounding the migratory event. Some argue that the act of migration spurs an increase in immigrant religious participation, while others contend that migration is a disruptive event and decreases immigrant religious participation. In addition to contextual factors, a number of micro-level factors may explain this change in religious participation: sex, family composition, religious affiliation, and employment status. This article uses longitudinal data from Quebec, Canada surveying nearly 1,000 immigrants during the 1990s. Results indicate that immigrant religious participation decreases substantially as compared to the average level of religious participation among the same immigrants prior to their migration. Besides religious affiliation, most of the micro-level factors hypothesized to explain this change in religious participation prove statistically insignificant. The lack of significant results for micro-level factors points to environmental factors that may be at work.With recent attention in the press given to immigrants and their religious involvement, the intersection of religion and immigration has become an important topic to the public and academia alike (Dickey 2005;Heinrich 2007;Hirschman 2004;Redmand 2003;Wuthnow 2003). This has resulted in a sharp increase of dissertations, monographs, and articles surrounding the topic of immigrant religiosity. Both quantitative and qualitative studies have focused on, or at the very least allude to, the increase or decrease of immigrant religious participation surrounding the migratory event and ensuing resettlement (Alanezi 2005;Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; van Tubergen 2006;Warner 1998). When studying immigrant religious adaptation, obvious questions emerge: Does immigrant religious participation increase or decrease upon entry into the new society? Does this apparent change in religious participation vary among certain demographic groups of immigrants? What influence does the immigrant's religious affiliation have in altering an immigrant's religious participation over time? The answers to these questions are not only of interest to academics, but also of concern to policymakers and immigrant service providers as well.Within the literature, there is a theoretical debate as to how immigrants religiously adapt in the new society. The differing viewpoints are based on a variety of studies and theoretical propositions. On the one hand, some scholars hold that the act of migration is a "theologizing" experience (Smith 1978) that actually increases the immigrant's spiritual consciousness and consequently religious participation (Hagan and Ebaugh 2003;Warner 1998). It is reasoned that immigrants become more reliant on the supernatural during the unstable months of the migratory event and resettlement. Of course, it is always difficult to know the direction of...

Migración y Arte Terapia: El collage estructurado para trabajar historias de vida en grupo

“…Ahora bien, frecuentemente se pudo ver también en sus diálogos y en sus arte el valor que la religión juega en sus vidas, en su dinámica familiar y en sus intentos por adaptarse a la sociedad destino, confirmándose el valor de este recurso como uno de los primeros en darle estabilidad emocional a quienes emigran (Connor, 2008).…”

“…De acuerdo con Connor (2008), para encontrar la estabilidad emocional, la Iglesia de la comunidad, en este caso la Latina o Hispana, ocupa el primer lugar; siendo un espacio para compartir con otras familias, en similares circunstancias: facilidad para la movilidad socioeconómica, dan reconocimiento social a sus miembros, ofrecen opciones de ayuda, específicamente de escucha que favorecen la salud espiritual.…”

Bridges or buffers? Motives behind Immigrants’ Religiosity

“…In order to test such a time-dependent hypothesis, longitudinal data are helpful. Indeed, Connor (2008) used a completed longitudinal immigrant data source for immigrants to Quebec (in the 1990s), Massey and Higgins (2011) used the first wave of a survey that examined newly arrived legal immigrants to the United States (in 2003), and Diehl et al (2013) employed the uncompleted Norface longitudinal survey, which comprises a survey of recent arrivals in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland 7 . The three studies arrived at similar results regarding a decrease in religious participation shortly after migration.…”

The religious switching of immigrants in Canada

“…Phillip Connor studied in depth the changes in religious affiliation among some of the immigrants to Canada a few years after arrival and found a rise in religious affiliation, however of temporary nature, with religiosity subsequently decreasing over time (Connor 2008(Connor , 2009). Bibby (2002) theorized based mostly on 1991 census data that Canada was prone to remain a Christian country in the near future, mostly since the majority of immigrants to Canada at this time were Christians.…”

“…Connor (2008Connor ( , 2009) looked at the religious trajectories of migrants in Canada but over a short time span. To our knowledge, no previous studies have empirically assessed the religious switching for the entire immigrant population in Canada for a long time period.…”