Religion’s personal function ranges from magical crutch to genuine love for neighbor

Evidence

Religion is a highly personal matter; it has quite different meanings in different lives. Its functional significance may range from its crutch-like ability to bolster infantile and magical forms of thinking to its support for a guiding and comprehensive view of life that turns the individual from his self-centeredness towards genuine love for his neighbor. (Allport, 1954/1979, p. 451-2) Specifically, in The Nature of Prejudice Allport focused on two ways of being religious. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2529

Categorization

• DEFINE: This lays out the spectrum that becomes Allport’s distinction between extrinsic (self-serving, crutch-like) and intrinsic (guiding, self-transcending) religious orientation, the load-bearing construct of this chapter.