Reexamining the Effects of State Religion on Religious Service Attendance

Abstract

This paper reexamines the effects of state religion on religious service attendance across countries. Using attendance data from the World Values Survey and Gallup World Poll, it pays special attention to the variables used for state religion, regulation of religion, and government favoritism toward religion. Because this analysis uses a larger set of data than has been used in many previous studies, it provides a more representative sample of countries and sheds some light on how particular state religions may affect attendance. Results suggest a complex relationship between religious service attendance and various measures of state religion, not the simple negative relationship found in prior literature.