1. Race And Religion Are Religious People More Prejudiced?
Authoritarian Personality: A Proxy For Religion?

2. Two Religious Americas?
Portraits of American Life Study (2006/12)
Two Religious Americas?
“One of the most effective ways to improve race relations is to stop talking about race.”
% of White Evangelical Christians
% of White Evangelical Christians
% of Black Evangelicals
% of Black Evangelicals
“It is okay for the races to be separate, as long as they have equal opportunity.”
% of White Evangelicals
% of White Evangelicals
% of Black Evangelicals
% of Black Evangelicals
“I think about my race daily (and have been treated unfairly)”
% of White Evangelicals (16%)
% of White Evangelicals (11%)
% of Black Evangelicals (43%)
% of Black Evangelicals (30%)

3. Authoritarian Personality
The Fascism Scale
- devised by Adorno
- replaced the Anti-Semitism (A-S)
and Ethnocentrism (E) scales
- Thirty questions with Likert scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
Authoritarianism’s Origins
- harsh, punitive, disciplinarian upbringing
- latent hostility towards parents
- anger at parents irrationally displaced onto minority groups or “fear” of parents is projected onto them.
Authoritarian Personality

4. Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics
Conventionalism
Authoritarian Submission
Authoritarian Aggression
Anti-Intraception
Superstition & Stereotypy
Power and “Toughness”
Destructive Cynicism
Projectivity
Sex Obsession
Conventionalism
Rigid adherence to “middle-class” values
Sample Q: Business men are more important to society than artists and professors.
Authoritarian Submission
Superficial respect for authority figues
Sample Q: What this country need is a few courageous, tireless leaders in whom the people can put their faith.
Authoritarian Aggression
Tendency to reject people who violate values
Sample Q: Most of our social problems would be solved if we could somehow get rid of the immoral, crooked, and feebleminded.
Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics

5. Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics
Anti-Intraception
Perceiving creative people as a threat
Sample Q: If people would talk less and work more, everybody would be better off.
Superstition & Stereotypy
The belief in mystical determinants of fate
Sample Q: Everyone should have complete faith in a God whose decisions are obeyed without question.
Power and “Toughness”
Preoccupation with dominance/submission ideals
Sample Q: People can be divided into two distinct classes: the weak and the strong.
Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics

6. Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics
Destructive Cynicism
Vilification of human beings as weak
Sample Q: Human nature being what it is, there will always be war and conflict.
Projectivity
Constant “fear” of wild/dangerous things
Sample Q: Most people don’t realize how much our lives are controlled by plots hatched in secret places.
Sex Obsession
Exaggerated concern with sexual “goings-on”
Sample Q: Homosexuals aren’t much better than criminals and ought to be severely punished.
Nine Authoritarian Personality Characteristics

7. Are Religious People More Prejudiced?
Hall et al (2010) Why Don’t We Practice
What We Preach?
Strong Religious Identification: “How
important is religion in your life”?
Extrinsic Religiosity: “What religion
offers me most is comfort when sorrows
and misfortune strike.”
Religious Fundamentalism: “God has given humanity a complete, unfailing guide to happiness and salvation, which must be totally followed.”
Intrinsic Religiosity: “My religious beliefs
are what really lie behind my whole approach to life.”
Agnosticism: “Questions are far more central
to my religious experience than
are answers.”
• Important Dynamics
Religion as an Intergroup Phenomenon
Religious Conventionalism
Religious Humanitarianism
• Values Promoting Racial Intolerance:
Strong Religious Identification: One’s religion is considered very important in their life. Most churches and religious traditions are segregated.
Extrinsic Religiosity: Religiosity motivated by external factors such as desires for social status, security, and acceptance from others. Religion is a means to an end.
Religious Fundamentalism: Religiosity that reflects an unquestioning, unwavering certainty in basic religious truths.
Are Religious People More Prejudiced?

8. Are Religious People More Prejudiced?
Strong Religious Identification: “How
important is religion in your life”?
Extrinsic Religiosity: “What religion
offers me most is comfort when sorrows
and misfortune strike.”
Religious Fundamentalism: “God has given humanity a complete, unfailing guide to happiness and salvation, which must be totally followed.”
Intrinsic Religiosity: “My religious beliefs
are what really lie behind my whole approach to life.”
Agnosticism: “Questions are far more central
to my religious experience than
are answers.”
• Important Dynamics
Religion as an Intergroup Phenomenon
Religious Conventionalism
Religious Humanitarianism
• Values Promoting Racial Tolerance:
Intrinsic Religiosity: Religiosity motivated by beliefs that there is good in just being religious regardless of any social benefits to it. Religion is an end unto itself.
Agnosticism: Religiosity that reflects a desire to face existential questions and acknowledge one’s religious doubts. These folks don’t attend services, don’t report much personal prayer, and may not even believe in God.
Are Religious People More Prejudiced?