Cross-national Test of Religious Market Theory

The present study is organized for the empirical test of religious market theory. In the main formulation of the religious market theory, the reduction of the Government Regulation of Religion in society fosters religious pluralism, religious pluralism creates competition, and competition between religious firms or institutions leads to the more and more efficient supply of religious products, and that as a result overall religiosity and religious vitality will increase in the whole society. This argument of the religious market theory was formulated as a hypothesis that the government regulation of religion is negatively related to religious commitment. To examine the empirical validity of this theory, the hypothesis was confronted with secondary data from 179 countries to assess the degree of conformity and correspondence of the religious market theory prediction with empirical evidence. Overall, the findings of this cross-national research could not provide significant and reliable support for the religious market theory in explaining the variance of religious commitment levels.