Religion; Religious affilitation; Europe; Cultural and religious identities; Population statistics; Pluralism; Denominations; Social science metadatabases; Islam; Reliability and validity of statistics on religion; Census; Religions
Liedhegener Antonius/ Odermatt Anastas (2018),
Religious Affiliation as a Baseline for Religious Diversity in Contemporary Europe. Making Sense of Numbers, Wordings, and Cultural Meanings.
Liedhegener Antonius/ Odermatt Anastas (2017), Religious Affiliation and Religious Plurality in Europe: Introducing a New Approach of Estimating Country Data Based on Metadatabase-Comparison, in Grim Brian J. Todd M. Johnson Vegard Skirbekk and Gina A. Zurlo (ed.), 134-145.
Liedhegener Antonius/ Odermatt Anastas (2017), Umstrittene Religionszugehörigkeit: Europas religiöse Pluralität zwischen vertrauten Kategorien und neuen religiösen Identitäten, in Edmund Arens Martin Baumann Antonius Liedhegener Wolfgang W. Müller and Markus Ries (ed.), 69-104.
Liedhegener Antonius/ Odermatt Anastas (2015), Religionszugehörigkeit in Europa – empirisch: Die “Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe (SMRE), in Kurt Appel Isabella Guanzini and Angelika Walser (ed.), 121-169.
Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe (SMRE). Religious Affiliation in Europe - an empirical problem.The role of religion in European societies has become a prominent topic of public and scientific debate. In the context of contemporary European societies questions concerning religion figure large when it comes to identities and social integration. The role of the different Christian traditions, the degree of secularization and the status of more recently immigrated religious minorities, especially of Muslims, are contested. Consequently, statistics on religious affiliation are frequently used (or mis-used) as political arguments. Data on religious affiliation are regularly brought forward in debates about the strength, predominance and acceptance of various religious groups.Despite the growing importance of this statistical information, social science research has thus far not lent much attention to the question of religious affiliation and its precise measurement. In fact, social scientists (as well as politicians) use figures on religious affiliation which, to the surprise of an empirically minded researcher, differ vastly. Moreover, for Europe as a whole as for important European countries such as France and Great Britain it is currently impossible to give reliable figures on the religious affiliation of its population.The «Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe (SMRE)» has been set up to change this situation. Over the course of three years, data from a wide range of sources have been collected by two researchers of the University of Lucerne. These data were integrated into a new database designed especially for this purpose. The existing metadatabase already includes statistics on religious affiliation for 42 European countries (including Turkey) cover-ing two periods of reporting, namely 2000 (1996-2005) and 2010 (2006-2015). During the project the number of cases will be expanded and the structure of the SMRE will be re-engineered. The new relational database concept will make the whole process of data collection, data correction, data classification and data estimation transparent to the scientific community.Thus the revised project will produce reliable estimates for all European countries including Russia and Turkey. During the three year period starting in January 2015 fresh data will be added to the already existing data set, especially in order to add the census results of 2010 and later, which will be published in the next few years. All data of the SMRE will be transferred to an internet based data storage engine right from the start. A front-end interface for users will designed to make international collaboration based on the SMRE come true. Any scientist interested into the problem of religious affiliation in Europe will be able to upload and document her or his data. All data will be double-checked by the SMRE-research team. Two related international workshops will be held in the course of the project to foster international collaboration und exchange on research related to the general problem of religious affiliation.