Mapping Religion in Contemporary Europe: How Conceptualizations, Tensions and Conflicts Influence Religious-Based Bullying Across 15 Countries

Macro-level geopolitical, religious, and socio-cultural conflicts and tensions increasingly transcend state borders, cascading downwards into micro-level institutions. Within schools, these global religious-based tensions reproduce themselves in negative peer dynamics, requiring an anti-bullying approach that takes cognizance of the broader societal hierarchies, religious stigmas, and geopolitical divisions which enforce identity boundaries and secure peer status. This paper examines the landscape of macro-level religious tensions across 15 European countries and how these conflicts may manifest as classroom bullying and social exclusion at the meso and micro levels. Using Linda Woodhead’s conceptual framework of five concepts of religion, the study investigates how the core dimensions of power and identity can shape peer relationships in educational settings. This qualitative comparative study was conducted across 15 countries. Using an adapted comparative framework, data collection and reflexive thematic analysis, we focused on mapping how national religious landscapes are shaped by distinct geopolitical, historical, cultural, and demographic contexts. The analysis specifically traced the mechanisms through which these macro-level socio-religious dynamics penetrate school climates and influence micro-level student interactions across the three axes of the comparative cube. Findings demonstrate that classroom bullying functions as an inherently socio-political practice. Students operationalize broader societal hierarchies, religious stigmas, and geopolitical divisions to enforce identity boundaries, negotiate status, and marginalize peers aligned with minoritized or contested religious identities. Global and national socio-religious conflicts directly impact classroom power structures, determining which students hold social leverage and which are rendered vulnerable. Our results align with contemporary anti-bullying paradigms, such as UNESCO’s “Whole Education Approach”, confirming that peer harassment is a localized micro-manifestation of systemic, macro-level power dynamics. Anti-bullying interventions must expand beyond individual behavioral modifications to adopt a “Whole Education Approach”. Educators, administrators, and policymakers must recognize schools as permeable ecosystems, equipping teachers with tools to address structural biases, counter identity-based harassment, and cultivate inclusive environments amidst rising global polarization.