Conferences

Since the seminal book of Huntington on the clash of civilization it is widely accepted that religion is an essential element in the formation of collective identities. Indeed, religion seems to play a key role in a larger number of recent inter- and intra-national conflicts. Religion may not only be a source of conflict, however, it can also foster societal integration. In Europe quite a few politicians attempt to create a European identity by appealing to the common Christian heritage. It is an open question whether these attempts are successful. If religion promotes societal integration at all, it may rather strengthen the national, or, below the national level, the regional identification than the integration with an overarching supra-national culture. It is also unclear whether religion plays the same role in religious and secular societies.

In order to answer some of these questions, the measurable aspects of collective identities have to be elaborated. Furthermore, the possible channels through which religion might influence these identities have to be specified. This is done in the first part of the paper which ends with a number of middle-range hypotheses about the influence of religion on regional identification in West European societies. The hypotheses are tested with data from the German part of the European Values Survey which also allows the comparison of the highly secularized, former Protestant East German regions with Protestant and Catholic regions in the West. The data also allow a test of the assumption that religion becomes increasingly important as a cultural marker.