Maatschappelijk onbehagen en de betekenis van religie: Gevoelens van onbehagen over de Nederlandse samenleving onder protestanten, rooms-katholieken en moslims

This article aims to provide insight into the role of religion for societal pessimism. The relationship between religion and societal discontent is not straight-forward; we find a U-connection. Being part of a religious group (Roman Catholics, PKN’ers, other Protestants, Muslims, Hindustanis and Buddhists, and other religious) is not significantly related to the degree of social discontent. What does have an effect (although small) is the degree of involvement with the faith community. Some degree of religious involvement protects against feelings of societal pessimism. People who occasionally attend a religious gathering have less pessimism about society than people who never do so. They also have less societal pessimism than people who frequently attend religious gatherings. We come to this effect in both univariate and multivariate analyses, taking into account resources and background characteristics.