Religiousness and Prejudice: The Mediating Roles of Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Ethnocentrism

Using serial mediation analyses, we examined the relationships among religious commitment (as well as quest religious orientation), religious fundamentalism (RF), religious ethnocentrism (RE), and 6 different forms of prejudice spanning ethnic/race, sexual orientation, religion, and social class (specifically, prejudice toward gays, Muslims, Jews, Blacks, the poor, and atheists). We hypothesized that greater levels of religious commitment and greater levels of quest orientation would both directly reduce prejudice. But greater levels of religious commitment was expected to indirectly increase prejudice. Specifically, we hypothesized that greater commitment would be associated with greater RF, which in turn would lead to greater RE, and ultimately to greater prejudice. In contrast, greater quest orientation not only would directly reduce prejudice, but would also indirectly do so through lower RF, lower RE, and lower levels of prejudice. Serial mediation allowed us to examine both the direct and indirect effects of religious commitment and quest orientation, and to determine the relative importance of RF and RE on prejudice