The Use of Religion as Justification for Prejudice Towards Homosexuals

In two studies, we examined circumstances in which heterosexuals used religion as justification for prejudice towards LBTBQ individuals. We hypothesized when people are falsely told they show antiLGBTQ prejudice, they would report higher levels of religiosity compared to those falsely told they have neutral attitudes. We expected political affiliation to moderate this effect. Participants in both studies were given an implicit attitudes task that ostensibly measured their attitudes toward LGBTQ people. Participants randomly received false feedback, either negative (LGBTQ prejudice) or neutral. Among those who received negative feedback, we found liberals were more religious compared to conservatives. However, Liberals were less likely to endorse Biblical literalism (BL) when given negative but not neutral feedback. Conservatives tended to endorse BL across both conditions. Liberals' higher levels of religiosity after negative feedback might have been self-affirming, whereas lack of BL endorsement might have been an attempt to distance themselves from religion.