His Rule
Multiplex Network Ties and the Spatial Diffusion of Radical Innovations: Martin Luther’s Leadership in the Early Reformation
Sascha Becker et al.
American Sociological Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article analyzes Martin Luther’s role in spreading the early Reformation, one of the most important episodes of radical institutional change in the last millennium. We argue that social relations played a key role in its diffusion because the spread of heterodox ideologies and their eventual institutionalization relied not only on private “infection” through exposure to innovation but also on active conversion and promotion of that new faith through personal ties. We conceive of that process as leader-to-follower directional influence originating with Luther and flowing to local elites through personal ties. Based on novel data on Luther’s correspondence, Luther’s visits, and student enrollments in Luther’s city of Wittenberg, we reconstruct Luther’s influence network to examine whether local connections to him increased the odds of adopting Protestantism. Using regression analyses and simulations based on empirical network data, we find that the combination of personal/relational diffusion via Luther’s multiplex ties and spatial/structural diffusion via trade routes fostered cities’ adoption of the Reformation, making possible Protestantism’s early breakthrough from a regional movement to a general rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church.
Weber Revisited: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Nationalism
Felix Kersting, Iris Wohnsiedler & Nikolaus Wolf
Journal of Economic History, September 2020, Pages 710-745
Abstract:
We revisit Max Weber’s hypothesis on the role of Protestantism for economic development. We show that nationalism is crucial to both, the interpretation of Weber’s Protestant Ethic and empirical tests thereof. For late nineteenth-century century Prussia we reject Weber’s suggestion that Protestantism mattered due to an “ascetic compulsion to save.” Moreover, we find that income levels, savings, and literacy rates differed between Germans and Poles, not between Protestants and Catholics, using pooled OLS and IV regressions. We suggest that this result is due to anti-Polish discrimination.
Contact and Commitment to Development: Evidence from Quasi‐Random Missionary Assignments
Lee Crawfurd
Kyklos, forthcoming
Abstract:
Public support for global development in rich countries is critical for sustaining effective government and individual action. But the causes of public support are not well understood. Does spending time living in a developing country play a role in generating individual commitment to development? Addressing this question is fraught with selection bias, as individuals are rarely exogenously assigned to spend time in different countries. In this paper I address this question using a natural experiment - the quasi‐random assignment of missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐day Saints to two‐year missions in different world regions. I provide the first causal estimates of the effect of travel to a developing country on attitudes to global development. Data comes from a new survey gathered through mission alumni Facebook groups. Missionaries assigned to low‐income and middle‐income world regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Caribbean) have similar prior characteristics to those assigned to high‐income Europe. Those assigned to Africa self‐report greater interest in global development and greater charitable attitudes and behaviours. However, they also express stronger opposition to immigration from poor countries, and are less likely to be involved in political campaigns to address global development. Spending time in lower income countries may lead to greater support for charity but less support for political change.
The Media Matters: Muslim American Portrayals and the Effects on Mass Attitudes
Nazita Lajevardi
Journal of Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Muslim Americans are increasingly stigmatized and may be experiencing a backlash in the American news media and by the public. No study to date, however, has empirically assessed the sentiment of Muslim American cable news coverage over an extended period of time and evaluated its effects on mass attitudes. I address the following questions: How has the U.S. news media portrayed Muslim Americans in its coverage? And, to what extent do these media portrayals impact American public opinion? I demonstrate that the media coverage of Muslims and Muslim Americans is negative and has increased over time. Compared to that of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans, I find that Muslim American coverage is more negative. In a series of survey experiments, I find that negative news portrayals of Muslims and Muslim Americans increase hostility towards Muslim Americans and increase support for stringent policies targeting them, while positive portrayals have relatively weaker effects.
Religiosity Moderates the Link Between Environmental Beliefs and Pro-Environmental Support: The Role of Belief in a Controlling God
Kimin Eom, Carmel Saad & Heejung Kim
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current research examines differences in what motivates environmentally sustainable behavior between more and less religious people in the United States. We found that religiosity moderates the extent to which environmental beliefs predict pro-environmental support. Specifically, environmental beliefs predicted pro-environmental support less strongly among more religious people than less religious people (Studies 1 and 2). Using a correlational (Study 2) and an experimental (Study 3) design, we further found that one particular aspect of religiosity - believing in a controlling god - reduced the importance of personally held environmental beliefs in shaping one’s support for pro-environmental actions. Our findings suggest that motivation to act based on personal beliefs may be attenuated among people who are religious because they believe in an external source of control. Sociocultural factors, such as religion, shape the psychological underpinnings of social actions, and the present research underscores the importance of understanding psychological diversity in promoting support toward environmental sustainability.
Catholics and Capital Punishment: Do Pope Francis's Teachings Matter in Policy Preferences?
Frank Cullen et al.
University of Cincinnati Working Paper, July 2020
Abstract:
In the United States, Catholics make up more than 50 million members of the adult population, or about 1 in 5 Americans. It is unclear whether their religious affiliation shapes Catholics' views on public policy issues, ranging from the legality of abortion to criminal justice practices. Capital punishment is especially salient, given that Pope Francis announced in 2018 - as official Catholic Church doctrine - that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances. Based on two national surveys, the current project explores Catholics' support for state executions before (2017) and after (2019) the Pope's momentous change in the church's Catechism. At present, little evidence exists that Pope Francis's doctrinal reform has impacted Catholics, a majority of whom - like Americans generally - continue to favor the death penalty for murders. Data from our 2020 MTurk survey shows that only 12.7% of Catholic respondents could correctly identify the Church's position on capital punishment. Despite these results, Pope Francis's teachings provide Catholic leaders and activists with a compelling rationale for opposing the death penalty and holding Catholic public officials accountable for espousing offenders' execution. Further, for the next generation of Catholics, instruction in the impermissibility of capital punishment, as part of the Church's consistent ethic of life, will be integral to their religious training.
Does the Bible Tell Me So? Weighing the Influence of Content versus Bias on Bible Interpretation Using Survey Experiments
Samuel Perry & Elizabeth McElroy
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Discussions of biblical interpretation often proceed under one of two assumptions. Readers’ interpretations are primarily formed (1) inductively, according to the Bible's objective content, or (2) through the lens of preformed ideologies and biases. We assessed the influence of these two factors using two survey experiments with undergraduates. In study 1 (N = 214), participants were randomly assigned one of two nearly identical translations of Ephesians 5:22‐28 (a famous passage describing gendered marital submission), with the only difference being that one translation included verse 21 in which Christians are told to “submit to one another.” Participants did not perceive a different message about gendered submission between translations, nor were they more likely to interpret either as misogynistic. However, gender ideology and religious importance did predict interpretation. Study 2 (N = 217) essentially replicated study 1 (using different translations of Ephesians 5:21‐28), but one version replaced all “subjection” language with “commitment” language. Participants were significantly more likely to perceive a complementarian message from the translation that referenced “subjection” and they were also more likely to perceive it as misogynistic. Again, gender ideology and religious characteristics predicted interpretation. Findings suggest bias shapes interpretation, but more extreme content modifications (e.g., removing/changing key terms) can also influence interpretation.
Prejudice toward Christians and atheists among members of nonreligious groups: Attitudes, behaviors, and mechanisms
Patty Van Cappellen & Jordan LaBouff
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
Much research demonstrates that people high in religiosity tend to be prejudiced against value-threatening groups. Therefore, some researchers have suggested that people who are not religious may be less prejudiced. Are nonreligious people characterized by general tolerance? If not, what are the bases of their prejudices? This research investigated prejudice toward Christians and atheists among people who identify as nonreligious (atheist, agnostic, and spiritual-but-not-religious), documented this prejudice in the form of exclusion behaviors (Study 1) and self-report of affect and social distance (Studies 2-3), and explored potential mechanisms of nonreligious prejudice toward Christians: individual differences in belief style and biases against Christians (Studies 2-3). Results showed the nonreligious are not generally tolerant and that differences among these groups in belief superiority, feelings of distrust, and fear of contamination by unpalatable ideas all explained differences in prejudice toward Christians. These findings help provide a more comprehensive picture of religious intergroup prejudice.
Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science
Joseph Baker, Samuel Perry & Andrew Whitehead
Sociological Forum, September 2020, Pages 587-607
Abstract:
Numerous studies show biblicist Christianity, religiosity, and conservative political identity are strong predictors of Americans holding skeptical attitudes toward publicly controversial aspects of science, such as human evolution. We show that Christian nationalism - meaning the desire to see particularistic and exclusivist versions of Christian symbols, values, and policies enshrined as the established religion of the United States - is a strong and consistent predictor of Americans’ attitudes about science above and beyond other religious and political characteristics. Further, a majority of the overall effect of political ideology on skepticism about the moral authority of science is mediated through Christian nationalism, indicating that political conservatives are more likely to be concerned with particular aspects of science primarily because they are more likely to be Christian nationalists. Likewise, substantial proportions of the well‐documented associations between religiosity and biblical “literalism” with views of science are mediated through Christian nationalism. Because Christian nationalism seeks to establish a particular and exclusivist vision of Christianity as the dominant moral order, adherents feel threatened by challenges to the epistemic authority undergirding that order, including by aspects of science perceived as challenging the supremacy of biblicist authority.
Pray the gay will stay? Church shopping and religious gatekeeping around homosexuality in an audit study of Christian church officials
Breanne Fahs & Eric Swank
Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although churches are often seen as organizations that oppose same-gender relationships, little research has examined how church representatives express such sentiments to people who are looking for a new church. This audit study from 2019 examined the ways that Christian churches (N = 255) shunned or welcomed sexual minorities in 4 cities in a large metropolitan area of the southwestern United States. Each church was contacted via e-mail by a person (gender-neutral and racially ambiguous name) who was “new to the area” and “looking for a church to get connected with.” The e-mail asked about the church’s position on homosexuality. The results revealed seven themes in the e-mail responses about homosexuality: (a) explicitly homophobic references to biblical view on sexuality and marriage; (b) lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LGBs) welcomed but compared to other antisocial or “deviant” practices/behaviors; (c) LGBs welcomed but lumped in with “all sinners”; (d) LGBs welcomed but celibacy and heterosexuality promoted; (e) avoidant or deferred responses; (f) describes having gay and lesbian church members; and (g) LGBs welcomed openly and without reservations. Implications for understanding the nuances of homophobia within church rhetoric are discussed, as are strategies for potentially challenging homophobic discourse that is deployed and endorsed by Christian churches.
Replicating and extending the effects of auditory religious cues on dishonest behavior
Aaron Nichols et al.
PLoS ONE, August 2020
Abstract:
Although scientists agree that replications are critical to the debate on the validity of religious priming research, religious priming replications are scarce. This paper attempts to replicate and extend previously observed effects of religious priming on ethical behavior. We test the effect of religious instrumental music on individuals’ ethical behavior with university participants (N = 408) in the Czech Republic, Japan, and the US. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to one of three musical tracks (religious, secular, or white noise) or to no music (control) for the duration of a decision-making game. Participants were asked to indicate which side of a vertically-bisected computer screen contained more dots and, in every trial, indicating that the right side of the screen had more dots earned participants the most money (irrespective of the number of dots). Therefore, participants were able to report dishonestly to earn more money. In agreement with previous research, we did not observe any main effects of condition. However, we were unable to replicate a moderating effect of self-reported religiosity on the effects of religious music on ethical behavior. Nevertheless, further analyses revealed moderating effects for ritual participation and declared religious affiliation congruent with the musical prime. That is, participants affiliated with a religious organization and taking part in rituals cheated significantly less than their peers when listening to religious music. We also observed significant differences in cheating behavior across samples. On average, US participants cheated the most and Czech participants cheated the least. We conclude that normative conduct is, in part, learned through active membership in religious communities and our findings provide further support for religious music as a subtle, moral cue.