Citizen Attitudes toward Religious Regulation in Central Asia

• In Event: Religious Regulation in Muslim-Majority Societies

Abstract

While scholars have paid increasing attention to the state’s efforts to regulate religion in predominantly Muslim societies, there remains a dearth of scholarship that explores the effects of these regulations at the individual level. And yet, understanding both the extent to which Muslim citizens are aware of state restrictions on their ability to practice their faith and the extent to which they object to these restrictions is crucial to understanding the state’s approach to religious regulation. Based on an original mass survey in Kyrgyzstan, this paper examines both citizens’ awareness of and attitudes toward religious regulation in Central Asia. Our preliminary results suggest that citizens are most aware of regulations that affect them directly and personally; thus, there is greater awareness of restrictions on private than public religious practice. Our preliminary findings also suggest that citizens are more likely support repressive state policies when the restrictions are directed at public religious activities than they are when such policies are directed at private religious activities. The different awareness of and attitudes toward restrictions on public versus private practice provides some insight into why states with predominantly Muslim populations can maintain popular support despite enacting repressive religious regulations.

Authors

• Pauline Jones, University of Michigan

• Dustin Mitchell Gamza, University of Michigan