Coping with Islamophobia: The effects of religious stigma on Muslim minorities’ identity formation

Islamophobic sentiments in theWestern world have gained scientific attention, particularly
after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However,the effects of religious stigma on
Muslim minorities’ identity formation have rarely been studied. Using structural equation
modeling, this cross-sectional study examined direct and indirect effects of different forms
of religious stigma on the national affiliation of 210 Norwegian-Pakistani and 216 GermanTurkish
Muslims. Furthermore, the study examined the mediator role of religious identity.
Our results suggest that being a Muslim in Norway is more reconcilable with affiliating
with the nation than being a Muslim in Germany. However, across the samples, the results
indicated that various forms of religious stigma affected Muslims’ national identity and
engagement in the public and private sphere in distinct ways. These effects were both
positive andnegative,differedbetweenthe two samples, andin Germany, weremediatedby
the participants’ religious identity. The findings indicated that the ways in which religious
stigma influences Muslims’ national affiliation is context and culture bound.