Peter Lüchau: Christianity and tolerance in Denmark
During the past two decades, Danish politicians have formed a consensus that refugees/immigrants are synonymous with Muslims. Some politicians have used this consensus to argue that Denmark is a Christian nation excluding the possibility of Muslims becoming Danes because of their religion. If these political claims have taken root in the general public, there should be a negative correlation between being Christian and tolerance towards immigrants. This article analyses the Danish data from the European Value Survey from 1999 with particular reference to several measures for Christianity and ethnic tolerance. There is a negative correlation between individual Christian faith and tolerance towards immigrants at the national level. When subjected to a multivariate analysis, however, this correlation disappears, because people with a lower level of education tend to be materialists, tend to be rightwing, and tend to hold a Christian faith. The lack of correlation between Christian faith and tolerance towards immigrants in a religiously homogenous country with a strong state sponsored national church is best explained by the special characteristics of the Nordic “civic religious“ model that neutralises the ability of any one group to seize national and religious symbols in the minds of the general public.
