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Religious Fundamentalism as a Predictor of Prejudice: A Two‐Component Model
Author(s) -
Laythe Brian,
FinkeL Deborah G.,
Bringle Robert G.,
Kirkpatrick Lee A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5906.00142
Subject(s) - fundamentalism , authoritarianism , orthodoxy , prejudice (legal term) , social psychology , psychology , ethnic group , political science , politics , philosophy , law , theology , democracy
The present study aims to determine whether the empirical relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice can be accounted for in terms of the mutually opposing effects of Christian orthodoxy and right‐wing authoritarianism using multiple regression. Three separate samples (total n = 320) completed measures of religious fundamentalism, right‐wing authoritarianism, Christian orthodoxy, ethnic prejudice, and homosexual prejudice. Consistent with previous research, fundamentalism (1) was essentially unrelated to ethnic prejudice when considered alone; (2) was positively related to ethnic prejudice when orthodoxy was statistically controlled; and (3) was negatively related to ethnic prejudice when authoritarianism was statistically controlled. Finally, when both authoritarianism and orthodoxy were controlled simultaneously, fundamentalism was again unrelated to prejudice, whereas orthodoxy was negatively related and authoritarianism positively related. In contrast, fundamentalism was a significant positive predictor of prejudice against gays and lesbians irrespective of whether authoritarianism and/or orthodoxy were statistically controlled.