The Pillowside Proselytizer: A Register-Based Study of the Relationship Between Religious Conversions, Religious Endogamy, and Gender in Finnish Marriages

<p dir="ltr">Religious endogamy provides insight into social closure by religion; it is shaped not only by assortative mating but also by religious mobility, including conversion and disaffiliation. Prior research suggests that both mobility and endogamy may entail different costs for men and women. Using Finnish population-wide register data on religious affiliation, conversion, and marriages for the period 1972–2020, we examine how religious mobility influences endogamy, with a specific focus on gender differences. We find that conversions increase endogamy in minority religions but slightly reduce it in the majority Evangelical Lutheran group. These effects vary by gender: conversions more strongly increase endogamy for men who practice minority religions, but not so for women who belong to major religious groups. A notable proportion of conversions was found to occur close to the time of marriage, thus suggesting a desire or pressure for religiously endogamous unions. Our study highlights the importance of timing in measuring the endogamy of gender to understand religious mobility–endogamy dynamics.</p>