Trust in religious communities : A survey of people's trust in religious communities and their leading figures

This paper aims to show how trust in four different religious institutions and their religious leaders varies depending on the age and national background of the respondents. Sweden is reportedly one of the most secularized countries in the world as well as a country with remarkably high generalized trust which makes it interesting to see how people trust religious institutions and religious leaders. Studies have been conducted on how people trust in religious institutions and religious people earlier but have shown varied results. Some studies have shown that people trust religious people more than non-religious people while other studies have shown the reverse. The basis for this paper have been a survey about trust and religious institutions which was answered by 205 people of varied age and national background. The study showed that people trust the Church of Sweden and their priests more than any other religious institution and religious figures. It also showed that the national background did not seem to affect the level of trust in any significant way. It also showed that the older you are the more likely it is that you trust religious institutions. What this paper also brings is a theory that people trust more in religious institutions and religious figures that share similar cultural heritage and attributes as the respondent themselves.