Toward Sociological Dimensions of Religious Freedom: Empirical Insights

This chapter discusses results and prospects of an empirical study of the social perceptions of religious freedom against the background of sociological attempts to define it and establish measuring models. In doing that, we first overview four definitional frameworks as introduced by Peter Berger, Roger Finke, James T. Richardson, and Jonathan Fox and specify each definitional approach through a sociological dimension and level of analysis it offers to an empirical model of research. By designating the dimensions of religious freedom through the individual autonomy, societal value, impact of judicial system, state policies along with its normative human rights framework, we discuss the developed model of empirical study of religious freedom via five dimensions. Second, we illustrate the sensitivity of developed multiple dimensions of religious freedom to participants’ socio-religious and socio-political contexts, by illustrating how religious affiliation, spiritual identity, as well as pluralist, atheist, and agnostic identities matter for the perceptions of its various dimensions. Finally, we aim to address the question of how cross-national comparisons of social perceptions of religious freedom can contribute to a better understanding of its multidimensional character taking into account democratic and authoritarian conditions of participants’ political reality.