Evangelical Christian faith now promotes rather than restrains racial prejudice

Evidence

Also contrary to Myrdal’s view, intense Christian faith now seems to promote racial prejudice rather than conflict with it. Evangelical Christians are higher in symbolic racism than any other White Americans, and White Southern Christian fundamentalists are the highest in the nation. Southern fundamentalists also show stronger opposition to policies intended to increase racial equality than do either other White Southerners or Northern fundamentalists. This exceptionally high opposition is due to their high levels of symbolic racism (Sears & Valentino, 2002). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2189 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

One reason for these inconsistencies is that the intrinsic/ extrinsic religiosity measure may not tap religiosity in the way it was intended (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005). However, a more compelling explanation is that the mechanism by which religion is related to prejudice may differ by target group. As previously stated, religion may provide a meaning-making system that makes certain social groups seem more threatening than others (Rowatt et al., 2013). For example, groups that are viewed as value-violating groups (e.g., LGBT people) might be more threatening than nonvalue-violating groups (e.g., racial groups). Thus, those who strongly internally identify with religious values might be especially likely to demonstrate prejudice toward value-violators. Traditional religious teachings are directly opposed to homosexuality, but religious teachings also promote humanitarian values that oppose racism. This may explain why intrinsic religiosity was related to negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, but not racism (Hall et al., 2010; Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005). — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 17 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Racist views predict evangelical identity four times more among regular attenders — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 525; A prominent evangelical leader publicly named racial superiority a Christian heresy — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 167; White Christian theology adapted to changing times only by shifting to subtler racism — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 234 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Evangelical Christianity predicts higher symbolic racism among White Americans #corroborates (0.92) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2189
• Religion fuels prejudice against value-violating groups but restrains prejudice against racial groups. #complicates (0.85) — Annetta Snell and Miron Zuckerman and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 17