New Threat of Culture Wars? The Religious Roots of Public Opinion Polarization on Culture War Issues in Europe

Cultural polarization divides European public opinion. From the Italian government's refusal to register children of same-sex couples to abortion protests in Poland, public opinion is polarized on culture war issues. I argue that these differences are shaped by an enduring legacy of church-state conflict ingrained in different religious cultures. The division, particularly pronounced in Catholic countries, persisted in these contexts but is absent in Protestant countries. Using time-series cross-sectional data from 19 European democracies, I show the persistent divide between the Catholic and the Protestant countries. In contrast to postmaterialism theory and other explanations emphasizing change, the differences based on economic development have diminished since the 1990s. As new generations replaced their predecessors, the less developed countries converged with their more developed counterparts. The finding highlights the importance of religious traditions for public opinion polarization.