Keeping or Losing Faith? Comparing Religion across Majority and Minority Youth in Europe

Abstract

In this chapter we explore how religious minority and majority youth are in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. We find that minority youth are on average more often affiliated to a religion than majority youth, and mostly affiliated as Christians. We also study religious salience, praying and service attendance. The share of minority and majority youth who expresses that religion is important in their lives is higher than the share of youth who engages in daily prayer or weekly service attendance. Specifically, Muslim youth stand out as the most religious on all accounts. Our further comparison of the religious salience of youth with that of their parents reveals that intergenerational religious change has a declining tendency, though also quite some stability exists, especially among Muslim immigrants. Together, these findings suggest overall low levels of religious salience and practice among majority youth, in contrast to minority youth—in particular Muslims—and a general pattern of intergenerational decline in the importance of religion.