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Religion, Immigration, and the Role of Context: the Impact of Immigration on Religiosity in the Republic of Cyprus

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Religion, Immigration, and the Role of Context: the Impact of Immigration on Religiosity in the Republic of Cyprus Journal of journal of religion in europe 11 (2018) 321-347 Religion in Europe brill.com/jre Religion, Immigration, and the Role of Context: The Impact of Immigration on Religiosity in the Republic of Cyprus Theodoros Kouros Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus [email protected] Yiannis Papadakis Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus [email protected] Abstract This article examines the impact of immigration on the religiosity of four immi- grant groups in the Republic of Cyprus. It attempts to shed light on the various fac- tors that impact the religiosity of immigrants in Cyprus and on whether migration has a theologizing or alienating effect, i.e., whether it affects the religiosity of immi- grants positively or negatively. It concludes that immigrants’ religious identities are being negotiated and transformed largely by their interplay with the local population, thus moving the focus beyond the theologizing/alienating dichotomy and beyond the religion as a bridge or barrier debate. Keywords religion – immigration – Cyprus – immigrant religiosity – theologizing hypothesis – bridge – barrier 1 Introduction I had no knowledge. I knew that God didn’t exist. That is what they told us. Then I was living […] until I came to Cyprus and saw what you had. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/18748929-01104003Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 05:27:42PM via free access <UN> 322 Kouros and Papadakis This quote was provided to us during an interview with R., a forty-seven-year- old Russian woman, who referred to her emigration to the Republic of Cyprus as a revelation that convinced her to switch from atheism to Orthodox Chris- tianity. Had she been from Syria or Sri Lanka, would she feel the same about “what you have here”? Most likely not, as Russian immigrants in Cyprus are predominantly of Christian Orthodox origin, and the Republic of Cyprus is a predominantly Christian Orthodox society. The issue of religiosity of social groups is complex, as ‘religiosity’ can refer both to a practice and a spiritual state. However, one thing that can be done is to measure certain dimensions of religiosity and, then, to explain the dif- ferences between different religious groups. This article explores the impact of immigration on the religiosity of various immigrant groups in the Repub- lic of Cyprus (RoC) with a comparative focus on immigrants from Syria, Rus- sia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. It is the first attempt to explore this issue in the context of Cyprus, an area where very limited research exists on issues of migration, and it is a response to calls by other scholars for more context- specific research, empirical data from outside the us and Western Europe, and comparative cross-religious research.1 By employing data that was derived by using both quantitative and qualitative methods, it discusses the strengths and weaknesses of various theoretical approaches in the light of this empirical ma- terial. As we show, the evaluation of a number of different variables and the employment of a comparative framework (with different migrant groups) can lead to more finely-tuned understandings. The paper focuses on three main areas: (1) on the socio-economic factors that have an impact on the religiosity of immigrants in Cyprus; (2) on the interplay between religious identities of both immigrants and locals and the subsequent influence on religiosity; and (3) on whether migration is theologizing or alienating, i.e., whether it has a positive impact on religiosity or a negative one. The paper proposes a view that goes beyond this dichotomy by taking into due consideration various variables related to origin, socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious contexts. 1.1 “Third Country Nationals” (tcns) in the Republic of Cyprus: The Research Population2 In recent years, immigration has increased rapidly in the RoC. Since 1974, Cyprus, an island republic set up in 1960, was firmly divided with the southern 1 For the call for more context-specific research, see Phillip Connor, “International Migration and Religious Participation: The Mediating Impact of Individual and Contextual Factors,” Sociological Forum 24/4 (2009), 779–803. For the latter, see Martha Th. Frederiks, “Religion, Migration and Identity,” Mission Studies 32/2 (2015), 181–202, at 197–198. 2 The term ‘tcn’ is used by eu institutions to refer to migrants that come from non-eu states. journal of religion inDownloaded europe from 11 Brill.com09/29/2021 (2018) 321-347 05:27:42PM via free access <UN> Religion, Immigration, and the Role of Context 323 part controlled by the (Greek-Cypriot run) Republic of Cyprus and the north- ern part by the (internationally not recognized and Turkish-Cypriot admin- istered) Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The research presented here refers to the southern (Greek Cypriot) part of Cyprus under the control of the Republic of Cyprus, which became an eu member in 2004. In 2001, according to the official government census, the total number of immigrants was 64,810 or 9.4% of the total population. According to the same census, there were 4,952 Russians residing in the country, 3,245 Filipinos, 4,939 Sri Lankans, and 1,436 Syrians. Ten years later, according to the latest census in 2011, the total of im- migrants in the RoC amounted to 107,383 of whom 8,164 were Russians, 9,413 Filipinos, 7,269 Sri Lankans, and 3,054 Syrians. Within a decade, the number of migrants living in the RoC almost doubled, and there was a notable growth of the population of Russians, Filipinos, Sri Lankans, and Syrians. However, the number of migrants in the RoC is probably higher given that the official census does not include undocumented immigrants. The reason these particular four immigrant groups were chosen was two- fold. For one, they are they are amongst the most populous immigrant groups in the RoC. The second reason was to provide the most productive comparison in light of our central concern, namely the implications of the interplay be- tween local and immigrant religious identities. Given the religion of the ma- jority of citizens of the RoC, namely Orthodox Christianity, but also the fact that religion is a crucial component of the Greek Cypriot national identity, one predominantly Orthodox community (Russians) was thus chosen.3 Moreover, the Russian community is the second most numerous immigrant communi- ty of tcns in Cyprus and the largest predominantly Orthodox Christian one (8,164, according to the 2011 census).4 Filipinos, the largest community of tcns 3 Marios Vryonides, “Θρησκευτικότητα και Θρησκοληψία: Mια Kριτική Aνάγνωση των Aποτελεσμάτων της Eυρωπαϊκής Kοινωνικής Έρευνας” [Religiosity and Bigotry: A Critical Reading of the Results of the European Social Survey], in: Kostas Gouliamos & Marios Vry- onides (eds.), Όψεις Kυπριακής Kοινωνίας: Διαπιστώσεις Eυρωπαϊκής Kοινωνικής Έρευνας [Aspects of the Cypriot Society: Insights from the European Social Survey] (Nicosia: En Tipis, 2010), 121–146; Marios Sarris, “Organisation and Divisions in the Orthodox Church in Cyprus: Post- independence Events and Changes in Context,” Cyprus Review 22/2 (2010), 189–204. 4 Even though the groups are presented with reference to nationality, religion is the primary focus of the research. Hence, non-Buddhist Sri-Lankans, Christian Syrians, Catholic or athe- ist Russians, and non-Catholic Filipinos were dropped from the dataset. The reference in nationality is perceived as important by the authors, as it allows us to draw conclusions that relate to social capital accumulation, separate ‘national’ religious communities, and so forth. However, we do not conflate nationality with religion. Nor do we conceptualize ethnic, na- tional, or religious communities as undifferentiated blocs. This choice was made in order to facilitate sampling and comparability. journal of religion in europe 11 (2018) 321-347 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 05:27:42PM via free access <UN> 324 Kouros and Papadakis in Cyprus (9,413), who are predominantly Catholics, were chosen because they practice a religion that is common in countries of Western and Central Europe and, therefore, is a religion more culturally and historically familiar to Greek Cypriots. Another community was chosen because it is the largest predomi- nantly Buddhist one (Sri Lankans, 7,269), and this community practices a reli- gion that did not exist in the RoC until recently, as its presence there coincides with immigration. Finally the largest predominantly Muslim community was selected (Syrians, 3,054) because its members practice a religion that histori- cally, and especially more recently, represents the constitutive ‘Other’ of the West.5 Moreover this choice was made because Islam is a religion that was present in the RoC until 1974, yet practiced by Turkish Cypriots and, more so, by Turks, the constitutive ‘Other’ of Greek Cypriots.6 The four communities that were selected are amongst the five largest third country nationals’ communi- ties in the RoC, i.e., nationals of countries that are not eu citizens.7 According to Corina Demetriou and Nicos Trimikliniotis, the RoC was an emigrant rather than an immigrant society until the early 1990s, when it was required to fill gaps in unskilled labor demand caused by rapid, if not also rabid, economic development.8 The rationale of the legal and institutional framework only per- mitted immigration that was temporary and limited to specific sectors and em- ployers, “a kind of Gastarbeiter model.” Even though studies have shown that they “are believed to have contributed up to 54% of the growth since they first arrived in the RoC,” the institutional framework that regulates their employ- ment is highly restrictive. The RoC is “structurally producing and reproducing a framework of precariousness and exclusion.”9 Most of the tcns in the RoC are of Southeast and East Asian origin (mainly Filipinos, Sri-Lankans, and Vietnamese), and the majority work as housekeep- ers and unskilled workers.
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