Examining the Role of Religious Identity in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage among Youth in Isfahan, Iran

Introduction Many social studies confirm that religion has an influential role in forming attitudes, trends and the meaning of social behaviors. However, so far little attention has been paid to examining the relationship between religious integrity and architectural space. Regarding to the fact that in many parts of the world cultural heritage places such as mosques, shrines, squares, temples and streets are alive and the public can use them actively, the present study intends to examine the relationship between religious identity and cultural heritage conservation. Based on the importance of youth's values, socialization and demographic characteristics of the Iranian population, youth were selected as this research's subjects. Material s and Methods According to research goals, to assess the role of religion in social life and focusing on active preservation of cultural heritage, three indicators of belief, emotion and outcome were selected to measure religious identity. In this study, religious identity is reflected in the role of a person in reproducing religious institutions and the importance of religious behaviors in lifestyle and interactions. There are two approaches to preserve cultural heritage: passive and active. While the first one aims at preventing any damage to cultural heritage, in the active approach, cultural heritage is more than buildings and structures. It includes values and history of a society; thus preservation requires social engagement and development of social bonds between people and places. If people do not understand the hidden values of buildings, their protection loses its importance. For active preservation, three indicators of emotion, cognition and function were distinguished. Data were gathered by survey, using multistage cluster sampling. A total of 343 people were questioned in 6 Isfahan urban districts as sample size. To test the assumptions, structural equation modeling was used in AMOS software. Discussion of R esults and C onclusion s In terms of religious identity, the scores of indicators were 4.12, 3.43 and 2.61 for belief, emotion and outcome, respectively; which indicates that the youth's believes are considerably stronger than religious behaviors. In cultural heritage preservation, indicators were 4.11, 2.63 and 2.36 for emotional, cognitive and functional dimensions, respectively. It shows that the youth are considerably engaged with cultural heritage emotionally, but they have little knowledge about them and behave poorly to support and preserve them. Findings indicate that the relationship between religious identity and emotional, cognitive and functional indicators of preservation are statistically significant. With 95 percent confidence it could be asserted that religious identity is positively correlated with cultural heritage preservation. The religious identity can explain 0.15 of the preservation’s variance. Among socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, education and marital status, only respondents’ education had a significant positive effect on the conservation of cultural heritage. Model fit indices show that the model has an acceptable fit. Based on the results, strengthening the religious identity will increase the desire to preserve the cultural heritage. In other words, people with stronger social bonds have greater potential to collaborate with governmental and non-governmental organizations, in order to preserve the monuments. Regarding the role of religious leaders to prepare lifestyle-based information to the public, and guide them, confident religious people can play an important role in the preservation of cultural heritage. Understanding the effect of religious identity on heritage conservation will promote and develop functions of religion and heritage; Deep understanding of religious identity and related values embedded in cultural monuments, gives authorities and researchers a new insight about the relationship between the integrity of users and the preservation of a place. From this viewpoint, cultural heritage will be a source of identity, power and social responsibility. &nbsp