The Last Bastion of Secularism? Government Religion Policy in Western Democracies, 1990 to 2008

Despite the decline in popularity of secularization theory-which predicts that religion's influence will decline in modern times-many argue that this prediction still applies to western democracies. This study tests this proposition with respect to government religion policy using eighty-one variables from the Religion and State Round 2 dataset covering the 1990 to 2008 period for twenty-seven western democracies. The results show that religious discrimination-limitations on the religious institutions and practices of minority religions-has increased significantly across a wide range of countries and types of religious discrimination. Religious legislation is present in all twenty-seven countries and levels of religious legislation remain stable. These findings are inconsistent with the predictions of secularization theory.