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Relationship Between Prejudice And Religiosity

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Abstract
Extensive research in the past has studied the relationship between prejudice and religiosity, however it has not been expanded to include nonprejudice. In addition, much of the research has relied on samples of individuals high in religiosity, and not those who self-identify as atheist, agnostic, or having no religious affiliation. In the current study, it was hypothesized that individuals higher in religiosity would display higher levels of homonegativity towards gay men, and higher levels of benevolent sexism towards women. In addition, a scale of nonprejudice was administered to assess possible correlations with measures of prejudice in relation to the self-identified religious affiliation of the participant. The sample of …show more content…

An abundance of research done in the past has found evidence that supports the notion that the more religious an individual is, the more prejudiced they tend to be towards other social groups (Ekici & Yucel, 2015; Marsh & Brown, 2011). Positive correlations have been found between religiosity and prejudice towards women, single mothers, gay men and lesbian women, people of different ethnicities, and atheists (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005). However, although a plethora of research exists in which the relationship between religiosity and prejudice is explored, not much exists linking religiosity with the concept of nonprejudice. In addition, individuals who do not hold any religious affiliation are not subject to the teachings of any particular religion, and a lack of research also exists in relation to the existence or absence of prejudice in such individuals. In the same way that higher religiosity leads to higher prejudice towards other social groups, does a lack of religiosity lead to a greater sense of universal orientation? This study aims to gain some insight on the existence of this relationship. Nonprejudice refers to the tendency of an individual to acknowledge and emphasize similarities between themselves and others, as opposed to focusing on the differences. Nonprejudice is not on the same continuum as prejudice, as an absence of prejudice does not necessarily mean that an individual will be more open to

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