The Myth of Multireligiousness: Assessing the (Im-)Possibility of Identification with Multiple Religions

• In Event: 052 - Section on Sociology of Religion Paper Session. Beyond Anglo Christianity

Abstract

This study explores whether a form of identity construction with multiple religions is possible for children of Jewish/Christian inter-religious parents. Using in-depth, semi-structured
interviews with children of inter-religious parents, I examine the mechanisms most salient in religious identity formation and their effect on the possibility of identifying as “multireligious.” I
identify cultural/religious exposure and family religious choices in childrearing as particularly meaningful mechanisms in this process; while all children may be able to choose to not affiliate
with a religion, only those with cultural/religious exposure can make the “choice” to affiliate with one. Using the frameworks of race and ethnicity and symbolic interactionism and the
experiences of the participants as evidence, I explain how these mechanisms serve to make identifying as “multireligious” a modern impossibility.

Author

• Adam L. Horowitz, Stanford University