Analyzing the effects of pluralism and privilege on muslim growth

Abstract

What explains the growth or decline of religions? By drawing insights from the theory of religious economies, this paper argues that state-religion relations affect religious growth rates. Specifically, environments of religious pluralism, where there are legislations promoting religious diversity, results in accelerated religious growth rates. Conversely, environments of privilege, where a religion enjoys institutionalized favoritism from the state, tend to cause a decelerated religious growth rate. Focusing on Muslim growth rates, this article analyzed a cross-national, time-series data of 52 Muslim-majority countries from 2010 to 2020. The statistical analysis shows that context of pluralism accelerates Muslim growth rates, while context of privilege decelerates Muslim growth rates. In general, the findings of this paper supports the theory of religious economies in explaining religious growth.