Religion and Marriage Attitudes across Europe: Examining the Role of the Religious Context

In Christianity, like in most other religions, marriage is highly valued. In line with this, research has shown that religiously involved people are much more likely than the nonreligious to object to behaviors such as unmarried cohabitation and divorce, that are seen as undermining the centrality of marriage (Thornton, 1985; Sweet & Bumpass, 1990; Pagnini & Rindfuss, 1993; Pearce & Thornton, 2007). These studies have examined religiosity as an individual characteristic. However, religion is also a major societal institution, and the strength of that institution could also be relevant for the strength of the association between religiosity and attitudes towards behaviors that undermine the centrality of marriage, like unmarried cohabitation and divorce (cf. Adamczyk, 2008). First, it could be that pro-marriage attitudes are stronger in more religious contexts – and not just because there are more religious people who value marriage, but also because the non-religious may be more likely to value marriage than non-religious people in more secular contexts (Moore & Vanneman, 2003). Second, it could be that the differences between the opinions of the religious and the non-religious differ more strongly in some contexts than in others.