Religious Practices and Beliefs among Religious Stayers and Religious Switchers in Israeli Judaism

Religious fluidity is a feature of modern life. While much scholarly attention has been drawn to conversion and denominational switching, little has been written about the effect of religious switching on religious behavior patterns. Using data on Israeli Jews from the 2009 Social Survey, I examine the thesis that switchers are more committed to their religious practices and beliefs than religious stayers are. The results of multivariate analyses show that the opposite is the case: switchers' religious behaviors and attitudes conform most closely to the norms of the religious group to which they currently belong but are influenced by their prior affiliation. This finding is more pronounced among those who switch from tradition than among those who reach out to it. I postulate that socialization, social networks, and the current tendency toward concurrent holding of multiple identities may provide an explanatory framework for these findings.