Correlational meta-analyses cannot establish causal links between religion and prejudice.

Evidence

However, though previous meta-analyses have assessed correlational studies of religion and prejudice (Hall et al., 2010; Whitley, 2009), these meta-analyses cannot establish causality. In addition, each of these metaanalyses examined prejudice directed at one particular group (e.g., Black, LGBT, and immigrants). The current meta-analysis examined the causal relation of theistic religious beliefs with prejudice by synthesizing studies with experimental designs that examined a wide variety of target groups. — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 2

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reading purpose: distinguishing causal experiments from correlational work on manufactured threat and group solidarity. — connects to: Correlational data cannot establish whether religion causes prejudice. — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 21; Religiosity-prejudice links are correlational, not established as causal — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 25; Religious priming causally increases prejudice toward LGBT people and atheists — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 108

Related

• Prior religion-prejudice meta-analyses were purely correlational and each studied one target group. (similarity 0.92)
• Correlational data cannot establish whether religion causes prejudice. (similarity 0.91)
• Religiosity-prejudice links are correlational, not established as causal (similarity 0.89)
• Prejudice may drive people toward religion, not only vice versa (similarity 0.85)
• Religious priming causally increases prejudice toward LGBT people and atheists (similarity 0.82)
• Religious priming elevates prejudice against LGBT people and atheists beyond other targets. (similarity 0.82)
• Publication bias is unlikely to fully explain the religious priming effect. (similarity 0.82)
• Religion fosters prejudice via intergroup bias, meaning-making threat, and authoritarianism. (similarity 0.81)
• The studies lack power to test cross-category moderation by target group. (similarity 0.81)
• Understanding religion-prejudice links requires specifying the type of religion involved (similarity 0.81)
• Type of religious prime may not moderate prejudice outcomes (similarity 0.81)
• Religious priming produces real but small and sometimes unreliable effects (similarity 0.80)
• Religious priming method does not meaningfully alter prejudice outcomes (similarity 0.80)
• Religious priming effects appear only in published, not unpublished, studies (similarity 0.80)
• Religious priming transfers prejudice most strongly toward LGBT and atheist targets (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Correlational data cannot establish whether religion causes prejudice. #corroborates (0.97) — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 21
• Religiosity-prejudice links are correlational, not established as causal #corroborates (0.93) — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 25
• Religious priming causally increases prejudice toward LGBT people and atheists #qualifies (0.75) — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 108