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Institutions, Education, and Religious Change: Evidence from Colombia

Hector Galindo-Silva, Paula Paula Herrera-Idarraga

TL;DR

The paper asks how a state-led civic-education reform embedded in Colombia's 1991 Constitution affected religious identification. It leverages cohort-based exposure to the mandatory curriculum in a difference-in-differences design and uses nationally representative survey data to identify causal shifts in Catholic self-identification, finding a persistent decline of about $2$–$3$ percentage points. The results reveal heterogeneous reconfigurations: in regions with weaker Catholic presence, declines in Catholic identity accompany rises in non-Catholic Christian affiliations and higher attendance, while in core regions they coincide with secularization and lower attendance. The study highlights education as a channel through which institutional reforms reshape cultural identities and underscores the role of pre-existing religious supply and regional context in moderating these effects.

Abstract

How do religious identities change? We study the effects of civic education reforms on religious identification using Colombia's 1991 Constitution, which dismantled the country's confessional regime and mandated constitutional instruction in high schools. Exploiting cohort-based variation in exposure to the reform and nationally representative survey data, we implement a difference-in-differences design. We find that exposure to the constitutional curriculum reduced Catholic self-identification by about three percentage points. This decline reflects a reallocation of religious identities rather than a generalized decline in religiosity. In regions where Catholic institutional presence was historically weaker, Catholic losses translate into switching toward non-Catholic Christian denominations and higher religious attendance. In contrast, in regions where Catholic dominance was stronger, the decline is associated with increased secular identification and lower attendance. These patterns hold across ethnic and non-ethnic groups and are shaped primarily by regional religious supply rather than ethnicity per se. Overall, the results show that civic education can reconfigure religious identities by reshaping the relative legitimacy of competing affiliations.

Institutions, Education, and Religious Change: Evidence from Colombia

TL;DR

The paper asks how a state-led civic-education reform embedded in Colombia's 1991 Constitution affected religious identification. It leverages cohort-based exposure to the mandatory curriculum in a difference-in-differences design and uses nationally representative survey data to identify causal shifts in Catholic self-identification, finding a persistent decline of about – percentage points. The results reveal heterogeneous reconfigurations: in regions with weaker Catholic presence, declines in Catholic identity accompany rises in non-Catholic Christian affiliations and higher attendance, while in core regions they coincide with secularization and lower attendance. The study highlights education as a channel through which institutional reforms reshape cultural identities and underscores the role of pre-existing religious supply and regional context in moderating these effects.

Abstract

How do religious identities change? We study the effects of civic education reforms on religious identification using Colombia's 1991 Constitution, which dismantled the country's confessional regime and mandated constitutional instruction in high schools. Exploiting cohort-based variation in exposure to the reform and nationally representative survey data, we implement a difference-in-differences design. We find that exposure to the constitutional curriculum reduced Catholic self-identification by about three percentage points. This decline reflects a reallocation of religious identities rather than a generalized decline in religiosity. In regions where Catholic institutional presence was historically weaker, Catholic losses translate into switching toward non-Catholic Christian denominations and higher religious attendance. In contrast, in regions where Catholic dominance was stronger, the decline is associated with increased secular identification and lower attendance. These patterns hold across ethnic and non-ethnic groups and are shaped primarily by regional religious supply rather than ethnicity per se. Overall, the results show that civic education can reconfigure religious identities by reshaping the relative legitimacy of competing affiliations.
Paper Structure (13 sections, 1 equation, 7 figures, 16 tables)

This paper contains 13 sections, 1 equation, 7 figures, 16 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Data and Empirical Strategy
  4. Data
  5. Empirical Strategy
  6. Baseline Results
  7. Mechanisms
  8. Erosion of Catholic Monopoly and Legitimation of Pluralism
  9. Alternative Explanations: Religiosity, Ideology and the Economy
  10. Robustness Checks
  11. Conclusion
  12. Appendix
  13. Additional Figures and Tables

Figures (7)

  • Figure I: Evolution of Religious Adherence in Colombia, 1996-2023
  • Figure II: Effect of Exposure to Courses on the 1991 Constitution on Catholic Identification
  • Figure III: Effect of Exposure to Constitutional Courses on Non-Catholic Christian, Non-Christian, and Secular Identification
  • Figure IV: Partial Correlation: Catholic Churches and Location in Central Regions
  • Figure V: Partial Correlation: Ethnic Minority Share and Location in Central Regions
  • ...and 2 more figures