We asked people in 35 countries about the influence of specific religious texts on their national laws. The texts in question varied by country: For example, adults in predominantly Christian countries were asked about the influence of the Bible. And in Muslim-majority countries, they were asked about the influence of the Quran.
In most middle-income countries:
- Majorities say the historically predominant religion’s text should have either a great deal or a fair amount of influence on the laws of their country.
- People are more likely to say religious texts should take precedence over the will of the people if the two conflict.
- Many say religious texts already have a great deal or a fair amount of influence on their country’s laws today.
On the other hand, in most high-income countries:
- Majorities say religious texts should not shape their national laws.
- People are about as likely, or slightly more likely, to say that the will of the people should win out over religious texts if the two conflict.
- Most people say religious texts currently have little or no influence on their country’s laws.
The U.S. stands out from other high-income countries both for its high percentage of people who think the Bible currently influences the country’s laws and for its high percentage who think the Bible should have that kind of influence.
We asked people in 35 countries about the influence of specific religious texts on their national laws. (Tunisia was included in the 36-country survey, but the questions about the Quran were not asked there.)
In each country, we selected the sacred text(s) of the historically predominant religion(s). For example, in the United States, where Christians have long made up a majority, we asked about the influence of the Bible. And, because the concept of “religious texts” is somewhat more relevant in Western religious traditions, in Buddhist-majority nations like Thailand, we asked about a comparable concept: the influence of Buddhist dharma.
In Japan, Nigeria and South Korea, we asked all respondents separately about the influence of two religious texts. In Japan, we asked about Buddhist dharma and Shinto teachings. A significant portion of the population there identifies as Buddhist, yet Shinto has long been tied to national identity, and a quarter of Japanese adults say they feel a personal connection to the Shinto way of life.
In Nigeria, where large shares of the population identify as either Christian or Muslim, we asked about the influence of the Bible and the Quran. In South Korea, where sizable shares identify as either Christian or Buddhist, we asked about the Bible and Buddhist dharma.
Here is a list of the religious texts asked in each country:
| Religious text | Country |
|---|---|
| Bible | United States, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, Australia, Philippines, South Korea, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru |
| Quran | Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey, Tunisia |
| Buddhist dharma | Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand |
| Hindu teachings | India |
| Jewish scripture | Israel |
| Shinto teachings | Japan |
How much influence should religious texts have on laws?
A majority of adults in most middle-income countries surveyed believe the religious texts they were asked about should influence the laws of their country. This generally holds true despite people in different countries being asked about different texts – such as the Bible, the Quran, Buddhist dharma and Hindu teachings.
In Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines and Peru, half of adults or more say the texts they were asked about should have a great deal of influence on the laws of their country.
In contrast, people in high-income countries are more likely to say religious texts should have little or no impact on their national laws. In Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK, half or more say the Bible should have no influence at all on their laws.
In the United States, around a quarter say the Bible should have a great deal of influence on the country’s laws. The U.S. also stands apart from the other high-income countries surveyed for having the highest share of adults (49%) who say a religious text should influence national laws at least a fair amount.
Turkey also stands out: Of all the countries in which we asked about the Quran, Turkey has the highest share of adults saying the Islamic holy book should have no influence at all on the law (31%).
Views by religion
In most countries, followers of the historically predominant religion are more likely than people of other religions to say their religious text should influence the nation’s laws. For instance, 57% of Hindus in India say Hindu teachings should have great influence on India’s laws, while 26% of Indian Muslims take that position.
In Israel, 19% of Jews and 5% of Muslims believe Jewish scripture should have a great deal of influence on Israeli laws. And 52% of Haredi (“ultra-Orthodox”) and Dati (“religious”) Jews say Jewish scripture should greatly influence national law, compared with just 10% of Masorti (“traditional”) Jews and 2% of Hiloni (“secular”) Jews who say this.
Because Nigeria has significant shares of both Christians and Muslims, we asked about the influence of both the Bible and the Quran. Nigerian Christians are slightly more likely than Nigerian Muslims to say the Bible should have a great deal of influence on the law (44% vs. 36%), while Muslims are significantly more likely than Christians to say the Quran should have a great deal of influence (59% vs. 17%).
In nearly every country with enough Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults for analysis, Christians are more likely than the unaffiliated (those who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) to say the Bible should have a great deal of influence on the law. For example, in Brazil, 58% of Christians say this about the Bible’s influence, compared with 34% of the religiously unaffiliated.
Notably, the religiously unaffiliated in most middle-income countries are more likely than the religiously affiliated in high-income countries to say the Bible should greatly influence the law. For instance, in Colombia, 62% of Christians and 41% of the unaffiliated hold this view. But in Spain, just 16% of Christians and 3% of the unaffiliated say the same.
Among U.S. adults, 31% of Christians say the Bible should greatly influence American laws, compared with 17% of Muslims, 8% of Jews and 6% of religiously unaffiliated Americans.
Views by religiousness
Adults who pray at least daily are more likely than those who pray less often to say the historically predominant religion’s sacred text should have a great deal of influence on the law of their country.
In nearly all countries where respondents were asked about the influence of the Bible, adults who pray at least daily are significantly more likely than other adults to say the Bible should have a great deal of influence on national laws. In Argentina, for example, 51% of adults who pray daily support the Bible having a great deal of influence on national laws, while 18% of those who pray less often say the same.
Notably, the U.S. has the second-largest difference between those who pray daily and those who pray less often – a gap of 31 points (40% vs. 9%).
Across all countries where we asked about the Bible, there are only three – Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, all in sub-Saharan Africa – in which there are no differences by religiousness.
In countries where people were asked about the Quran, differences are generally minimal. Although in Malaysia and Nigeria, adults who pray at least daily are significantly more likely than others to say the Quran should greatly influence laws.
And in Israel, people who pray at least daily are more likely to support Israeli law being greatly influenced by Jewish scripture. This difference is driven by Jews who pray at least daily as opposed to Jews who pray less often (45% vs. 9%); there is a smaller but still significant difference between Muslims who pray at least daily and Muslims who pray less (7% vs. 1%).
Views by ideology
Ideology is sometimes related to how people feel about whether religious texts should influence their national laws.
For example, a larger share of Israelis on the right (27%) than on the left (7%) or in the center (4%) think Jewish teachings should have a great deal of influence on Israeli law. Similarly, those on the right in Australia, Canada, Greece, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, South Korea, Sweden and the UK are more likely than those on the left to say the Bible should have great influence. (Ideology was not asked in all countries.)
In the Philippines, Colombia and Peru, people on the right and the left are considerably more likely than those in the center to support the Bible shaping national law. In Colombia, 58% on the left and 63% on the right say the Bible should be highly influential in this regard, compared with 44% in the center.
In the U.S., adults who describe themselves as conservative (41%) are significantly more likely than moderates (16%) or liberals (7%) to say the Bible should have a great deal of influence on American laws. Conservative Republicans (42%) particularly stand out for this view, relative to moderate and liberal Republicans (17%), conservative and moderate Democrats (18%), or liberal Democrats (5%).
Views by populist support
In Europe, people with a favorable view of right-wing populist parties in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain are considerably more likely than those with an unfavorable view of these parties to say the Bible should greatly influence national laws. For example, in Greece, 37% of Greek Solution (EL) supporters say this, compared with only 12% of those who have an unfavorable view of the party.
Views by attitudes toward the role of religion in society
People’s support for a religious text influencing their country’s laws is related to their opinion of religion’s impact on society as a whole.
In over two-thirds of the countries surveyed, people who say religion mostly helps society are significantly more likely than those who say religion mostly hurts society to think that the religious text they were asked about should have a great deal of influence on their laws.
For example, 55% of Peruvians who believe religion mostly helps society think the Bible should have a great deal of influence on Peruvian law; 27% of those who say religion mostly hurts society share this view.
Should the will of the people or religious texts take priority in lawmaking?
In each country surveyed, people who said the historically predominant religion’s text should have a great deal or fair amount of influence on the law were asked a follow-up question: If the religious text and the will of the people conflict with each other, which should have more influence on the laws of their country?
In countries where respondents were asked about Buddhist dharma, people are at least twice as likely to say the will of the people should win out over Buddhist dharma when the two conflict. In Sri Lanka, for example, 42% say the will of the people should have more influence on Sri Lankan laws, while 17% say the same about Buddhist dharma.
In three of the five countries where we asked about the Quran, the opposite is true. In Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, adults are more likely to say that the Quran should have more influence than the will of the people when the two conflict, including 77% who say this in Bangladesh. In Nigeria, opinion is more divided, though slightly more say the Quran should take precedence over the will of the people (34% vs. 21%). In Turkey, people are about as likely to say the will of the people should have more influence (23%) as to say the Quran should (17%).
Views differ among countries where we asked about the Bible. For example, in Argentina, Hungary and the UK, people who think the Bible should have influence on laws are rather equally split over whether the will of the people or the religious text should take precedence. On the other hand, in Colombia, Kenya and Nigeria, people tend to prioritize the religious text over the will of the people.
The Philippines stands out from other middle-income countries that were asked about the Bible: 45% of Filipinos say the will of the people should take precedence when shaping laws, the highest share among these countries.
Views by religiousness
People who pray daily tend to be more likely than other adults to say that religious texts should have more influence than the will of the people, should the two conflict.
In South Korea, where we asked about the influence of both the Bible and Buddhist dharma, adults who pray daily are more likely to say that either text should take priority over the will of the people. That is, South Koreans who pray daily are more likely than other South Koreans to say the Bible should be followed over the will of the people (39% vs. 5%) and that Buddhist dharma should be followed over the will of the people (12% vs. 4%).
Views by ideology
In many countries surveyed, people on the ideological right are also more likely than those on the left to say religious texts should be prioritized over the will of the people when the two conflict. In Canada, for instance, 22% of those on the right say the Bible should shape the law instead of the will of the people, compared with 5% on the left.
How much influence do religious texts have on laws today?
We also asked respondents to consider how much influence the religious texts currently have on their country’s laws, regardless of how much influence they think the texts should have.
In 10 of the 35 countries, more than half of adults say the religious text asked about has a fair amount or a great deal of influence. These include Thailand and Sri Lanka, countries that feature Buddhism prominently in their national constitutions.
On the other hand, majorities in most of the 35 countries say the religious text they were asked about currently has little or no influence at all on national laws.
The U.S. stands out as the only high-income country where a majority of adults believe a religious text already has a sizable influence on the law: 42% of Americans say the Bible has some influence on U.S. laws today, and an additional 16% say it has a great deal of influence.
Views by religion
Across much of Europe, religiously unaffiliated people are somewhat more likely than Christians to say that the Bible has influence on laws today – though views don’t differ much on whether the Bible has a great deal of influence. For instance, 56% of religiously unaffiliated Greeks say the Bible has a fair amount or a great deal of influence on Greek laws today, compared with 39% of Christian Greeks.
Similarly, in Israel, Haredi (“ultra-Orthodox”) and Dati (“religious”) Jews (56%), as well as Masorti (“traditional”) Jews (60%), are more likely than Hiloni (“secular”) Jews to say Jewish scripture influences Israeli laws today (43%), though Haredim/Datiim and Hilonim are more likely than Masortim to say there is a great deal of influence on the law.
In India, a greater share of Hindus than Muslims says that Hindu teachings have a great deal of influence on Indian laws today (44% vs. 33%).
In Kenya and Ghana, Christians are more likely than Muslims to think the Bible currently has a great deal of influence on national laws: 53% of Kenyan Christians and 33% of Ghanaian Christians say this, compared with 25% of Kenyan Muslims and 15% of Ghanian Muslims.
In Nigeria, the opposite is true: Muslims are more likely than Christians to say the Bible has a great deal of influence today (24% vs. 15%). And Nigerian Muslims are also more likely than Christians to say the Quran currently has a great deal of influence on Nigerian laws (40% vs. 12%).
Relationship between the current influence and preferred influence of religious texts
In the majority of the 35 surveyed countries, people who say religious textshave a great deal of influence on the law today also tend to think these texts should have a great deal of influence.
For instance, in Mexico, 66% of people who say the Bible currently has a great deal of influence on Mexican laws today also say that the Bible should have a great influence. By comparison, 24% of those who say the Bible currently has less influence agree.
