Religion, demography and attitudes toward civil marriage in Israel 1969–2009

Abstract

In the developed world, Israel is the only country without a civil option for regulating personal status. Determinants of changes in attitudes toward the introduction of the civil marriage in 1969–2009 among the Jewish population are the focus of this article. According to the Human Empowerment framework, the support for civil marriage should increase over time, and the younger generation should be more permissive than the older. However, despite growing support among all population groups, there is stagnation in the overall attitude due to changes in population composition. Being religious, the younger cohorts oppose the trend of permitting couples to marry any way they choose. Besides religiosity and traditionalism, this attitude can be predicted by national identity, education and being a 1990s immigrant from the former Soviet Union. The relative impact of the two demographic forces – the natural increase of the religious versus immigration – is analyzed. The article shows the relevance of internal and external national identity for the institution of civil marriage in Israel. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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