Research


Religion and Human Rights Survey

The St Mary’s Centre is collaborating with Professor Hans-Georg Ziebertz from Germany in an international study designed to explore the relationship between attitudes toward religion and toward human rights among year 11 and post-16-year-old students.

The Welsh arm of this study was launched during the autumn term 2014 and has generated a series of publications since. The findings presented in these publications cover a wide range of significant topics such as:  
  • The relationship between an individual's religiosity and their opinions on human rights issues;
  • The often overlooked effect of cultural context on the relationship between religion and human rights beliefs;
  • The effect of an individual's personality on their belief's about human rights;
  • The association between religious saliency and openness toward political rights;
  • The acceptance of freedom of religious clothing and symbols in schools;
  • The effect of an individual's religious beliefs and their opinions regarding euthanasia.

There have been many significant findings from this project, such as:

  • Cultural context has a recognisable effect on an individual's opinions regarding human rights;
  • Children attending church schools and children attending non-religious affiliated schools display no significant difference in their attitude toward freedom of religious clothing and symbols in school;
  • The impact of religious affiliation on an individual's human rights beliefs is a factor that does not act independently. Gender, cultural context, and personality also play a simultaneous role in affecting someone's human rights beliefs alongside their religious affiliation.

Publication download

Download the full list of publications from this project (including abstracts).

If you would like to read more about any of these publications, please contact the St Mary's Centre.