Overview

Abstract (English)

With the recent terrorist attacks in the United States and Britain, the topics of religion and immigration have received increased attention. This present situation has caused a recurring question to emerge: what factors influence the rise or fall of immigrant religious participation? Unfortunately, a lack of available data has made it difficult for researchers to address factors that may contribute to the increase of immigrant religious participation. However, theories from the sociology of migration and religion point towards two possible factors within the immigrant’s context of settlement that bear an influence on immigrant religious participation – religious heterogeneity (i.e. religious pluralism) and religious proportionality (i.e. ethnic enclave theory). In this paper, tests for the competing viewpoints within the religious heterogeneity and religious proportionality hypotheses are conducted using recent data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. Results indicate that increased religious heterogeneity increases religious participation for religious groups besides Protestants and Catholics. Increased religious proportionality decreases religious participation among Protestants and Catholic immigrants but increases religious participation of immigrants belonging to all other religions.

Abstract (French)

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