The Importance of Church Attendance and Membership of Religious Voluntary Organizations for the Formation of Social Capital

The author discusses whether church attendance and membership of religious voluntary organizations contribute to establishing social capital in society, and if so, whether faith, membership, or the level of active involvement is the key factor. She analyses what bearing religious involvement has on a citizen's political involvement, and to what extent religious involvement helps to build social trust and tolerance of other groups in society. Data used is from the 2001 Norwegian Citizenship Survey. The study shows that religious involvement is positively associated with political engagement, social trust and tolerance. It also emerges, after controlling for other background variables, that membership of religious voluntary organizations has no effect on social trust and tolerance of other groups in society.