The Role of Religious Affiliation and Religiosity in Attitudes Towards Migrants

Migration worldwide concerns many governments due to daily discrimination faced by immigrants in their destination countries, but also by the level of integration achieved by this latter group. The literature has shown how the role of negative stereotypes or ‘pervasive narratives’ (Lyck-Bowen & Owen, 2019) against immigrants has become a significant issue, particularly concerning the levels of integration they achieve in host countries. Consequently, these social groups experience high stigma, discrimination, and lack of social integration. Regarding this context, the concept of the nation-state plays a crucial role in determining legal status and inclusion based on cultural and linguistic identity. Immigrants are often perceived as the "antipode of belonging" (Geschiere, 2009: 10). For instance, “autochthony” refers to individuals ‘born from the soil’ (Geschiere, 2009) and frequently appear in political discourse against migrants in host societies. However, as Geschiere argues, “the claim to be autochthonous is certainly not the only kind of belonging people tend to stress in the present-day context of globalisation. Religious belonging has become, also quite surprisingly, at least as important in our modern world” (p. 2).

However, the relationship between religion and migrant integration in a globalised context has been poorly studied in Latin America, particularly in Chile, which has experienced a significant increase in immigration rates in the past years. Therefore, this study employs fixed-effects regressions, drawing on data from the Longitudinal Social Survey (ELSOC), to explore the role of religiosity and religious affiliation in fostering social ties among nationals and migrants. Specifically, it examines the integrative function of religion concerning migrants. The central hypothesis in our study is that Chileans who identify as Catholic or Evangelical will, on average, demonstrate higher levels of social trust —one dimension of social cohesion— towards migrants compared to those who do not affiliate with these religious groups.