1. Progress Inertia: Church Attendance Weakens Trends toward
Marriage Equality Support
Mark Hoffarth and Gordon Hodson
Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Brock Lab of Intergroup Processes (BLIP)
tinyurl.com/intergroup-lab
Abstract: Support for marriage equality has increased dramatically in the United States. Although a recent meta-analysis indicates that racism has decreased more rapidly among highly religious people (Hall et al., 2010), it is unclear whether such progress holds for anti-gay expressions, which are actively proscribed and legitimized by some religious movements. We examined the nationally representative General Social Survey, analyzing changes over time in support for gay marriage ( ) and tolerance of homosexuality ( ). Consistent with past research, higher church attendance was associated with less support for gay marriage and less tolerance of homosexuality. Importantly, both support for gay marriage and tolerance of homosexuality increased more slowly among frequent (vs. infrequent) church attenders. Roughly two-thirds of this moderation effect held after accounting for religious denomination, religious fundamentalism, political orientation, political party affiliation, and demographics (e.g. gender, age, race). Our findings indicate that factors unique to church attendance facilitate anti-gay bias, and that these unique factors have weakened progressive secular trends toward more pro-gay attitudes. If these trends continue, pro-gay rights trends may be particularly stalled in states with high church attendance. Future research may benefit from examining social psychological factors that moderate or facilitate the relation between church attendance and anti-gay bias.
Sample: General Social Survey – A nationally representative sample of US adults (predominantly Christian)
- Figure 1: N = 28,478; Figure 2: N = 6,558
Measures:
IV – Year of data collection (i.e., occasion)
Moderator – Church Attendance: 1 (never) to 8 (more than once a week)
DVs – Moral Acceptance of Homosexuality: “What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex--do you think it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?”
1 (always wrong) to 4 (not wrong at all)
- Gay Marriage Opposition: “Homosexual couples should have the right to marry one another.”
1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
Covariates (included in all analyses):
Religious Denomination: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Other, None (dummy coded)
Religious Fundamentalism: “When it comes to your religious beliefs, I consider myself..” 1 (fundamentalist), 2 (moderate), 3 (liberal)
Party Identification: 0 (strong Democrat) to 6 (strong Republican)
Political Ideology: 1 (extremely liberal) to 7 (extremely conservative)
Education Level: Highest year of school completed (0 (none) to 10 (8 or more years of college)
Demographics: Age (open-ended), Sex (dummy code: Man, Woman), Race (dummy code: White, Black, Other) Size of City: Population of current city of residence
Theoretical Background:
Whereas religiosity was previously a strong predictor of racism, this relation has decreased over time (Hall et al., 2010), with racism decreasing faster among the highly religious
Religiosity associated with many forms of prejudice, particularly anti-gay prejudice (Altemeyer, 2003)
Religious belief can act as a form of system justification (Jost et al., 2014)
Suggests trends toward moral and political acceptance of gays may actually be slower among the religious
many Christian churches teach that homosexuality is immoral, marriage should be between 1 man & 1 woman
Therefore, church attendance, in particular, may act as a limiting factor (or “brake”) on acceptance of gays
Predictions:
1. Over time, more moral acceptance of homosexuality, less opposition to gay marriage.
2. Church attendance  less acceptance of homosexuality, more opposition to gay marriage
3. Church attendance will slow trends over time toward more moral acceptance, less opposition to gay marriage.
- Church attendance effects would be unique from individual differences (e.g. fundamentalism, political ideology)
Results and Discussion:
Moral/political acceptance of gays over time is slower among frequent church attenders
This pattern is largely unique from demographics and individual differences associated with attending church
Suggests social factors associated with church attendance in particular promote resistance to gay rights.
Future research (in progress, with support from SPSSI Grant-In-Aid):
Multi-Level Modeling, taking into account regional differences in church attendance
Mediators of church attendance  Moral and political opposition to homosexuality
Church attendance as moderator of individual change (e.g. intergroup contact, impact of political campaigning)
How can we increase gay rights support among frequent church attenders?
Low Church Attendance (-1SD) b = .024
Mean Church Attendance b = .019
High Church Attendance (+1SD) b = -.032
Mean Church Attendance b = -.043
High Church Attendance (+1SD) b = .013
Low Church Attendance (-1SD) b = -.054