Existential Anxiety of Religious Identity and Religious Extremism in Indonesian Muslims

Abstract

Relevance and object of research. In this modern world, the system of managing large social processes is a foot. A dangerous social trend of the so-called “information society” is identity manipulation, including religious identity. Relevant questions: What distinguishes an authentic religious identity from an extremist one? What qualities of devoutness are necessary and sufficient for understanding devoutness? The article presents the results of a study on religious identity of Indonesian Muslims. Subject, methods and materials of research. Data was collected from 484 Indonesian Muslims to confirm that existential anxiety plays the role of a mediator variable in the negative correlation between authentic religious identity and religious extremism. The survey was conducted using a google form. Mediation regression analysis was implemented. Three methods were used to collect data: the Authentic Religious Identity Scale, the Existential Anxiety Scale, and the Religious Extremism Scale. When testing the reliability and validity of these scales, the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and JASP (Jeffrey's Amazing Statistics Program) programs were used. Results. The study found that authentic religious identity is negatively associated with existential anxiety, and existential anxiety was definitely associated with religious extremism. An assumption is that an authentic religious identity makes it possible to overcome existential anxiety, forming a social tendency to reduce the risk of developing religious extremism. If existential anxiety is not included in the research model, then there is a correlation between authentic religious identity and religious extremism. This means that without taking into account existential anxiety it is not possible to distinguish authentic devoutness from an extreme one. The study shows that authentic devoutness cannot completely eliminate the risk of developing an extremist view. To make this distinction the factor of favoritism was necessary, hence the nesecesticity of empirical studies to include the phenomena between spirituality and devoutness.