Religious residue: The impact of childhood religious socialization on the religiosity of nones in France, Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden

Abstract

One of the distinguishing features of religious life in Western Europe in recent decades has been the sharp increase in the proportion of people who identify as unaffiliated with any religious tradition (religious nones). Non‐affiliation entails a rejection of religious belonging, not the absence of all religious belief and practice; yet the determinants of religiosity among nones have not been fully explored. Drawing on data from the 1998–2018 ISSP surveys in four West European countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden), I test the impact of childhood religious socialization on the religiosity of unaffiliated adults by comparing lifelong nones, who were never religiously affiliated, with disaffiliates, who were raised within a religious tradition and have since exited organized religious life. Disaffiliates are consistently more religious than lifelong nones due to religious residue from childhood, with greater residue found among those who were more religiously committed as children. Religious decline among the unaffiliated over time, combined with the increasing proportion of lifelong nones and second‐generation lifelong nones who lack even an inherited, minimal religious residue, suggest that secularization will gather momentum.

Phantoms of Faith—Experiences of Rupture and Residue of Amputated Religiosity among Norwegian Ex-Charismatic Christians

“…Similar emotions and experiences have been found in previous disaffiliation studies (Ebaugh 1988;Cottee 2015;Beider 2023). However, I argue that the disaffiliation literature could benefit from further exploring the embodied perspectives of disaffiliation.…”

Parental Influence and Intergenerational Transmission of Religious Belief, Attitudes, and Practices: Recent Evidence from the United States

“…A final broad theme of the results of this paper is that parental and childhood engagement with religion is much more predictive of religious engagement and attitudes later in life than they are of religious identification later in life, echoing the strong conclusions to this effect by Clements and Bullivant (2022), and again highlighting a type of religious residue (Beider, 2023) or perhaps a type of 'chain of memory' (Hervieu-Léger). Indeed, not even parental religious identification was predictive of adulthood identification, except for Jewish respondents.…”

“…Storm and Voas 2012), especially around father's religious service attendance and adult attendance, it also may also be more an effect of life course influence by which religion takes a more 'adult' place within the life of the child as they grow into adulthood and major life events happen (Hardie, Pearch, and Denton 2016). These findings also suggest the reflection of a type of 'religious residue' in debates of religious decline in traditionally Christian countries, whereby those who were raised in a religious household but have since left that religion, still exhibit greater measures of religiosity than those who grew up with no religion (Beider, 2023).…”

Parental Influence and Intergenerational Transmission of Religious Belief, Attitudes, and Practices: Recent Evidence from the United States

“…A final broad theme of the results of this paper is that parental and childhood engagement with religion is much more predictive of religious engagement and attitudes later in life than they are of religious identification later in life, echoing the strong conclusions to this effect by Clements and Bullivant (2022), thereby underscoring the presence of a sort of religious residue (Beider 2023) or potentially a type of 'chain of memory' (Hervieu-Léger). Notably, parental religious identification did not serve as a predictor for religious identification in adulthood, except for Jewish respondents.…”

“…While it could be argued that this shows the incremental intergenerational decline of engagement with religion (e.g., Storm and Voas 2012), especially around father's religious service attendance and adult attendance, it also may also be more an effect of life course influence by which religion takes a more 'adult' place within the life of the child as they grow into adulthood and major life events happen (Hardie et al 2016). These findings also suggest the reflection of a type of 'religious residue' in debates of religious decline in traditionally Christian countries, whereby those who were raised in a religious household, but have since left that religion, still exhibit greater measures of religiosity than those who grew up with no religion (Beider 2023). This effect is also particularly strong for those Protestant denominations that are more conservative, or 'evangelical'.…”