The Use of Digital Religious Content Among Refugees in Germany: Frequency, Change and Relation to Communal Religious Practice

Maddox, Amrei

Various European studies on digital religious life among Muslims exist. These are often case studies of a certain type of digital religion, e.g., lifestyle vlogs, or focus on Islamist or Salafist contents and radicalization. However, information on the overall pervasiveness of the actual consumption of religious content online and in social media is largely missing. To gain more insight, the topic was entered into the questionnaire of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees – a large, representative survey of refugees in Germany – in 2021. Besides the frequency of using digital religious content, detailed information on the type of use was gathered. The frequency was surveyed again in 2023. Also information on individual religiosity, offline religious practice as well as on various demographic, socio-economic and attitudinal characteristics is available which allows for a detailed investigation of this topic at hand.

Within the present study, I investigate the following aspects: First, I examine to what extent digital religious content serves as a substitute for physical communal religious practice in 2021. On the one hand, religious events were heavily limited during this time due to the COVID19-pandemic. On the other hand, Muslim refugees less frequently attend religious events compared to Christian refugees. This is in part due to them not finding suitable events within the existing Muslim community infrastructure. Second, I investigate, to what extent changes in the frequency of using digital religious content can be observed between 2021 and 2023, i.e., between mid-pandemic and post-pandemic times. Was the use steered by restrictions put on physical meetings and the worries about the general pandemic as well as personal situation during this time? Third, I take a look at which individual factors shape the use of digital religious content. Who are the people that use them and who are less likely to do so?