Religiosity and Trust in Religious Institutions:

The paper examines the determinants of trust in religious institutions in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia—three countries with low levels of religiosity as measured by attendance, prayer and fasting, yet high levels of trust in religious institutions. The analysis employs individual-level survey data from the Caucasus Research Resource Centers’ (CRRC) 2007 Data Initiative and uses OLS regression to show that while religious practices do not determine trust in religious institutions, the importance of religion in one’s daily life is a strong indicator of trust in religious institutions in each country. However, the results show some differences between the three countries with regard to two types of control variables—trust in secular institutions and socioeconomic factors. Georgia is the only country in which interpersonal trust is a significant indicator of trust in religious institutions. Residence in the capital is only significant in Azerbaijan. Armenia is the only country in which both education and age are significant. In addition, two theories of trust in institutions are tested: a cultural theory of interpersonal trust and secularization theory relating to declining religious authority. The results show that secularization theory has inadequately operationalized the concept of religiosity overwhelmingly as practice and as declining religious authority. The paper maintains that Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are considered secular under earlier secularization theories that viewed declining religious practices as a form of secularization. However, these countries are non-secular with respect to more recent adaptations of the theory that regard declining religious authority—measured by trust in religious institutions—as a form of secularization. Thus, the presence of both low religious practice and high trust in religious institutions challenges more recent reformulated secularization theories. Additionally, cultural theories of interpersonal trust prove ambiguous in the region. The paper is one of few analyses to employ a multidimensional view of religiosity that takes into account the “privatization of religion” and also to test theories of trust in religious institutions in the South Caucasus—an often neglected area and frequently the second most trusted type of institution in the postcommunist region after the military. Religiosity and Trust in Religious Institutions: An Introduction This paper examines religiosity and trust in religious institutions in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Specifically, it seeks to understand the determinants of trust in religious institutions among societies with low levels of religiosity. The analysis employs data from the Data Initiative (2007)—a nation-wide survey conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) regarding an array of social, political and economic issues in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The paper differs from more common literature regarding trust in political and democratic institutions in post-communist countries. Rather, it explores trust in religious institutions—an often neglected area, and frequently the second most trusted type of institution in the post-communist region after the army. In addition, the paper tests a cultural theory of interpersonal trust and evaluates recent reformulated secularization theories related to trust in institutions. Does a high level of religiosity within a society imply that that the society also has high trust in religious institutions? This analysis will show that Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia exhibit low levels of religiosity as measured by attendance, prayer and fasting, similar to many countries in Western Europe. However, all three countries have high levels of trust in religious institutions although they experienced peculiar forms of assertive statesponsored modernization and secularization during the Soviet Union. This peculiarity may be one of the reasons why Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia present an unusual puzzle for two different forms of secularization theory. These are all countries that would be considered secular under earlier versions of secularization theory that focused on declining religious practices. However, these countries would be considered nonsecular with respect to the more recent adaptations of secularization theory that concentrate on declining religious authority (sometimes measured by trust in religious institutions).