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The Unmaking of Prejudice: How Christian Beliefs Relate to Attitudes Toward Homosexuals
Author(s) -
Ford Thomas E.,
Brignall Thomas,
VanValey Thomas L.,
Macaluso Michael J.
Publication year - 2009
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/j.1468-5906.2009.01434.x
Subject(s) - prejudice (legal term) , authoritarianism , social psychology , psychology , homosexuality , psychoanalysis , politics , political science , law , democracy
We propose that the internalization of orthodox Christian beliefs serves as a basis for a personal moral standard that discourages prejudice against others as well as for self‐critical emotions that follow upon behaving in a discriminatory manner. Two correlational studies tested hypotheses derived from our theory. Study 1 demonstrated that to the extent people endorse orthodox Christian beliefs, they report an internal motivation to respond without prejudice toward homosexuals. Study 2 demonstrated that, when controlling for the effects of right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA), endorsement of orthodox Christian beliefs was related to positive attitudes toward homosexuals as individuals or as a group, but not toward homosexuality as a behavior or lifestyle.