The Effect of Social Movements on Religious Identity

This article proposes an examination of the relationship between support for progressive social movements and religious disaffiliation in Chile, contributing to the growing literature on how political dynamics shape religious identification. Chile's religious landscape has experienced significant changes in recent years, with a sharp decline in Catholic identification and a rise in religiously unaffiliated individuals ("nones"). At the same time, the country has been involved in a prominent and historically unprecedented protest cycle led by several progressive social movements.

Drawing on data from the Chilean Longitudinal Social Survey (ELSOC) from 2016 to 2021, this study investigates whether support for liberal movements—such as those advocating for student, feminist, environmental, and indigenous rights—correlates with higher probabilities of religious disaffiliation. Using autoregressive models, the results show that individuals who express positive evaluations of these movements are more likely to identify as non-religious and demonstrate lower participation in religious services, regardless of their previous religious affiliations. These effects are evident for Catholics and Evangelicals, indicating that political support for progressive causes can influence religious identity. The findings suggest that religious identification in Chile is more contingent and that political values, even without direct church involvement, play a role in shaping religious affiliations. The study extends the discussion on secularization beyond the North American context, offering new insights into the interaction between politics and religion in Latin America. Also, the results emphasize the relevance of a wide perspective to analyze the effects of social movements on domains surpassing the movement's immediate thematic scope.