New study links the spread of the internet to a global decline in religious identity

The proliferation of the internet has profoundly reshaped societal dynamics, work, and learning. A recent, multinational investigation suggests that heightened internet access within a nation correlates with a decrease in religious affiliations and self-identification. These findings were published in the journal Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review.

For decades, scholars have grappled with the forces behind secularization—the diminishing social and personal importance of religion. Classical theories attribute this trend to modernization, positing that wealthier, more educated, and urban societies rely less on religious institutions for basic necessities and social support. However, recent scholars propose that digital communication may function as its own secularizing force.

The internet exposes individuals to diverse perspectives, reduces the cost of acquiring scientific knowledge, and enables questioning of traditional authority. Online platforms can replace traditional, in-person communities with digital networks, potentially weakening the social environments that typically sustain religious participation.

Defining religiosity is complex, involving various dimensions such as personal beliefs, private practices like prayer, and the exclusivity of one's worldview. In the context of digital connectivity, different aspects of religious life may respond differently to online engagement. While previous studies have linked individual internet use to reduced religious commitment, much of this evidence is limited to specific countries or timeframes.

The study, led by Miran Lavrič, a professor of sociology at the University of Maribor, aimed to determine whether internet expansion serves as a broad indicator of secularization across multiple countries over several decades.

The research team compiled a comprehensive dataset encompassing 81 countries between 1990 and 2022, integrating national internet usage data with six rounds of information from the World Values Survey. This ongoing international project tracks human beliefs and values globally. The researchers developed a six-item index to quantify a country's average religiosity, incorporating measures such as religious service attendance, the personal significance of God, the overall importance of religion, self-rated religious identity, confidence in churches, and formal membership in a religious denomination.

They also tracked various modernization indicators, including economic output per capita, average years of schooling, urbanization rates, globalization, demographic aging, and income inequality.

The team employed statistical models to analyze changes within each country over time, rather than comparing rich nations to poorer ones. They also incorporated a time delay in their calculations to align a country's internet adoption with its religious landscape in subsequent surveys, establishing the sequence of trends. The results consistently demonstrated that increases in internet penetration reliably predicted subsequent decreases in a country's average religiosity.

This negative association persisted even after accounting for other modernization factors, indicating that internet expansion is linked to religious decline independently of general economic or educational improvements. According to Lavrič, "As societies became more connected to the internet, they also tended to become less religious."

The magnitude of the association was significant, with a one-standard-deviation increase in internet diffusion associated with approximately a 0.20 standard-deviation decline in overall religiosity. Notably, internet diffusion emerged as the most robust predictor of religious decline among the standard modernization variables considered, surpassing factors like education, economic development, and globalization.

Lavrič commented, "The simplest takeaway is that as societies became more connected to the internet, they also tended to become less religious. The associations were meaningful, but not huge." The study's lead author, Tibor Rutar, noted the duality of the internet's impact on religious life. While earlier studies found links between individual internet use and lower religious commitment, this research highlights that the digital landscape offers religious communities both challenges and opportunities.