Understanding the effects of religious attendance on political participation among ethnic minorities of different religions

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>In the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U</jats:styled-content>nited <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>tates, active church membership among ethnic and racial minorities has been linked to higher political participation. In <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>urope, the influence of religious attendance on political mobilisation of ethnic minorities has so far been little explored, despite the heated public debate about the public role of religion and particularly Islam. This study uses the 2010 <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>thnic <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">M</jats:styled-content>inority <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>ritish <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>lection <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>tudy to theorise the relationship between religious attendance and political participation of ethnic minorities in a European context and extend existing theories to non‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>hristian minority religions. The article shows that despite a significantly different context in which religion's place in political life is more contentious, regular religious attendance increases political participation rates of ethnic minorities. Some possible explanatory mechanisms are tested and an important distinction is introduced between those mechanisms that mediate, and those that moderate the impact of religion. The study finds that British minority churches and places of worships vary in how willing and effective they are in politically motivating their worshippers, and concludes that this relates to the political salience of certain religions within the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U</jats:styled-content>nited <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">K</jats:styled-content>ingdom context.</jats:p>