u/ExpertMisinformant

Image 1 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 2 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 3 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 4 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 5 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 6 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 7 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 8 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 9 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 10 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 11 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan
Image 12 — Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan

Religion: Science, pop culture and politics in Azerbaijan

This is kind of a continuation of my previous posts and my final one on this topic.

Science and pop culture:
It seems based on images 11 - 16, that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan both have similarly liberal/secular views on science and it's role in our society and it's relationship to religion. They also hold more liberal views than Albanians and Bosnians do. On the other hand, they have more conservative views on Western entertainment than Albanians and Bosnians do. Interestingly, both Azerbaijan seems to prefer Bollywood (?) over Western entertainment.

Politics:
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan also seem to have similar views on democracy, with Bosnia having a more conservative view and Albania having a more liberal one.

When it comes to the freedom to practice their faith, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Albania and Bosnia all have similar responses. They are all also almost equally supportive of religious freedom.

Azerbaijan has a more liberal/secular view on how much political influence religious leaders should have than Kazakhstan, Albania and Bosnia. Azeris are also more negative towards Islamic parties than the other 3 are.

Finally, Azeris are also more opposed to suicide bombings than than Kazakhstan, Albania and Bosnia, but the other 3 are close, especially Kazakhstan.

Source for images 1 - 6:
Muslim Views on Religion, Science and Popular Culture | Pew Research Center

Source for images 7 - 12:
Muslim Views on Religion and Politics | Pew Research Center

u/ExpertMisinformant — 10 days ago

Religion and morality in Azerbaijan

Morality:
It seems that Azeris have more liberal/secular views on abortion, suicide, divorce, family planning (slightly) and honor killings than countries like Albania and Bosnia. On the other hand, they seem to have more conservative/religious views on sex/sexuality, alcohol consumption (surprisingly), and the necessity of a belief in God.

Kazakhstan has more liberal/secular views on the belief of God, alcohol consumption, sex and sexuality (except for homosexuality where they're about the same as Azerbaijan), somewhat similar views on family planning, honor killings and divorce (but Kazakhstan is overall more positive towards it). On the other hand, they have more conservative/religious views on suicide and abortion than Azerbaijan does.

Source for images 1 - 9:
Muslim Views on Morality | Pew Research Center

EDIT:
To be clear, I'm only comparing Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan, Albania and Bosnia since they're generally equally secular and religious, and they're the only real contenders to being the most secular (or least religious) Muslim country.

u/ExpertMisinformant — 10 days ago

Religious observance in Azerbaijan

What's interesting is that there is a near 0% weekly worship attendance among Azeris, and only about 38% of Azeris consider religion to be very important in their lives. However, over 75% of Azeris have reported that they pray daily. This is unlike any of the Central Asian countries, even though, like them, Azerbaijan is hostile to religious institutions. While this data is from a little over a decade ago, I still believe it applies today as well.

Another interesting tidbit is that Sunni and Shia Azeris seems to get along the most out of all the countries with a split Shia and Sunni population. In addition, the notion that Sunnis are more religious than Shias (at least in Azerbaijan) isn't really confirmed to be true in any survey results, although again, the data gathered here was quite a while ago (2013). Instead, this notion might just be a stereotype of North Caucasian/Dagestani Sunnis.

TLDR: Religion is generally a private (and not communal) matter for most Azeris, and a major difference in religiosity between Sunnis and Shias in Azerbaijan isn't observed in the data gathered through surveys conducted by Pew Research Center.

Source of images 1 - 3:
Religious observance by age and country | Pew Research Center

Source of image 4:
Many Countries Favor Specific Religions | Pew Research Center

Source of images 5 - 10:
Many Sunnis and Shias Worry About Religious Conflict | Pew Research Center

u/ExpertMisinformant — 10 days ago