Does religious affiliation influence trust?

Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to estimate and explore how religious affiliation may influence general and local trust in contemporary society. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs data from the 2010 and 2014 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The association between religious affiliation and trust was estimated using an ordered logistic regression and conventional ordinary least squares model. Findings: The paper presents evidence of a statistically significant association between religious affiliation and trust that are consistent with theory. Social implications: This finding is important for a heterogeneous population like Australia as it seeks to build social cohesion in the face of threats to internal and external security. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature by providing – to the best of the authors’ knowledge – the first results on the association between religious affiliation and trust for Australia.