The Broader Political Significance of Houses of Worship: Theory and Evidence from Indonesian Mosques

Houses of worship hold specific political significance because they shape the political attitudes and behaviors of their congregations. I argue that they also have broader political significance because their impact extends beyond the congregation to the local community. I support this argument by analyzing the locations of more than 300,000 mosques in Indonesia and national panel data of more than 16,000 Muslim respondents. Employing a difference-in-difference approach, I find that the presence of new mosques in a kecamatan (district) correlates with increased exclusionary attitudes toward non-Muslims. To a more limited extent, the presence of more mosques also correlates with a greater emphasis on religious similarity in voting decisions. Further exploratory analysis suggests that mosques serving as channels for information and communication within the community plays a more significant role in producing these effects than their functions in enhancing religiosity or reinforcing religious identity.