Social Perceptions of Religious Freedom

Abstract

Abstract This chapter introduces a model of empirical study of social perceptions of religious freedom (SPRF). It explains how this analysis discloses the hierarchies in citizens’ knowledge and experiences of religious freedom, taking into account individual and group identities. This chapter offers empirical answers concerning citizens’ understanding of the multiple dimensions of this phenomenon, including the social, political, and religious contexts and conditions affecting them. Along with hypotheses about the correlates of religious freedom, it specifies fourteen predictors of this concept. Finally, it presents a comparative study on the SPRF in contrasting political and human rights contexts. The results of this comparison allow the conclusion that religious pluralism, passive secularism, and democracy are robust predictors of the dimensions of SPRF in two national contexts (Italy and Russia). The chapter then links these results with discussions on structural conditions of religious freedom presented in previous chapters.