Across the Loop: Comparing Perceptions of Religious Freedom, Pluralism, and Secularism in Italy and Croatia

This article adopts a comparative analytical framework inspired by W. Cole Durham, Jr. to examine religious freedom through the lenses of religion–state relations and religious pluralism. Using primary data from a 2021–2022 cross-national survey of 1,317 university students in Italy and Croatia, it explores how varying degrees of religion–state identification influence support for freedom of and from religion. The findings indicate that both religious pluralism and state neutrality are strong predictors of support for religious freedom. In contrast, extreme forms of religion–state identification, particularly positive identification, produce more complex and inconsistent effects on attitudes toward religious freedom.