Religions and Sports: Are They Resources For the Integration of Immigrants in the Host Society?

The social integration of immigrants is a multi-faceted topic, so it needs to be studied using a multidimensional approach and operationalising the main concepts carefully. This paper gives relevance to the socio-cultural dimension; it questions whether religions, and sports and exercise, can make a positive contribution to this social process. The Author reviews the main empirical research, carried out thus far in Italy and in the European Countries; his hypothesis is that these institutions are positive resources, almost invisible but socially relevant, for the social integration of non-EU immigrants. Indeed he suggests that a scholar has to distinguish both the type of religion / of sport and exercise, and the type of place and of chances in it offered. Finally this paper offers some observations about the effects of the politics for social integration via sports and exercise, which some European countries have adopted in the last years.