This paper explores the relationship between volunteering and religiosity. The analysis interprets the willingness to volunteer in terms of the relationship to values, and through this it shows how the value structures of those who consider themselves religious have been shaped by social influences in recent decades. The analysis, which is essentially social theoretical, draws out the trends that have brought about significant changes in the differences between the values of religious and non-religious people. The study looks at each social change primarily through the extent to which these trends have altered the attitude of religious and non-religious people towards volunteering. The focus of the reflection is thus whether changes in the social structure have increased or decreased the particular commitment to volunteering of religious people, as opposed to non-religious people. As part of this, the paper discusses how the characteristics of the secular public sphere described by Charles Taylor, affect the religious and the non-religious. The analysis will also examine the role of the rise of spiritualism and online spaces on attitudes to values, including volunteering. The study's conclusion is that societal changes, which are often in conflict with one another, are leading to a dissolution of the difference between the values of the religious and the non-religious. This line of thought provides an explanation for why empirical research in recent decades has found a decreasing difference between religious and non-religious people in their willingness to volunteer.

Keywords: volunteering, religiosity, secularised public sphere, spiritualism, online spaces