Religious Pluralism and Social Networks: How Exposure to Religious Pluralism Through Social Ties Influences Baptism Decisions

ABSTRACT A longstanding debate in the sociology of religion has focused on how religious pluralism affects religious participation. Existing research shows mixed findings, often relying on macro‐level measures that overlook how individuals are actually exposed to religious pluralism in their lives. This study shifts focus to the meso‐level by examining how exposure to religious pluralism through social ties shapes parents' decisions to baptize their children into the Church of Sweden. Using Swedish full‐population data on couples who became parents between 2002 and 2022, I construct network‐based measures of pluralism across kinship, workplace, and neighborhood ties. Employing a dynamic inverse probability weighting design, I show that greater network‐level pluralism is associated with a lower likelihood of baptism, particularly when exposure arises through kinship ties. I also find more limited evidence that this association is stronger under conditions of religious cross‐pressure between parents, especially when the father is not affiliated with the Church of Sweden. In general, the findings demonstrate the importance of a network perspective for understanding how religious pluralism shapes religious participation.