The Social Fabric of Faith: The Interconnectedness of Community Influence and Authentic Religious Expression

The literature on religious authenticity lacks sufficient exploration of how social factors, such as social homophily and social validation, influence the relationship between religiosity and self-authenticity. While personal belief alignment is often highlighted, we still need to address the social dimensions of authenticity. In this article, we examined how religiosity, social homophily, and social validation interact to shape religious authenticity using data from the 2014 Religion and Identity Survey. Our analysis revealed that religiosity predicts feelings of religious self-authenticity, and that both social homophily and social validation predict religiosity. Furthermore, social homophily moderates the relationship between religiosity and authenticity, while social validation ultimately mediates this effect. These findings suggest that religious authenticity is not only about personal conviction but is deeply influenced by social validation, emphasizing the importance of social factors in constructing authentic religious identities.