Prejudice may drive people toward religion, not only vice versa

Evidence

Furthermore, it is important to note that although we examined the causal relation of religion with prejudice, we did not examine bidirectionality. Our finding that religious priming increases prejudice does not preclude the possibility of the reverse relation. For example, prejudice might move people to seek and accept a value system (such as religion) that is consistent with their beliefs. Thus, future research could benefit from experimental studies to understand whether the reverse relation also exists. — Alexandra Snell, Miron Zuckerman, and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 107

Categorization

• QUESTION: The reverse causal direction — prejudice motivating attraction to religion — is an untested but plausible mechanism worth chasing.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Alexandra Snell, Miron Zuckerman, and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 107
• XREF: connects to: 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; Religion fosters prejudice via intergroup bias, meaning-making threat, and authoritarianism. — Alexandra Snell, Miron Zuckerman, and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 5; Religious priming transfers prejudice most strongly toward LGBT and atheist targets — Alexandra Snell, Miron Zuckerman, and Bonnie M. Le, Does Religious Priming Induce Greater…, 40