Two studies are reported that examine the relationships among religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Study 1 reports the results of a survey done for the purposes of scientific jury selection. These results suggest that Baptists, fundamentalists, and “Christians” display more antigay prejudice than do Catholics, Jews, and many Protestant denominations, but even many supporters of gay‐tolerant religions show more antigay prejudice than those claiming no religious preference. Among those with a religious preference, frequency of worship is significantly related to antigay prejudice among those belonging to antigay denominations, but not among those belonging to more gay tolerant religious faiths.
Study 2 reports the results of a study of college students regarding religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Results showed that self reported religiousness, frequency of worship, and Batson's internal and external scales were all positively correlated with measures of prejudice toward gays and lesbians, whereas scores on the Quest (Interactional) scale were negatively correlated. Results of both studies strongly challenge the view that those with an intrinsic religious orientation are unprejudiced. It is argued that a social influence process can account for the role played by religious practice and beliefs in creating and maintaining negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians.
The present research assessed the relationship between therapists' beliefs and ethical decision making when working with clients who are HIV positive and who refuse to warn sexual partners or use safe sex practices. The sample consisted of licensed psychologists in Florida. Results demonstrated a significant relationship between homophobia and likelihood of breaching confidentiality. In addition, scenarios depicting highly dangerous clients yielded higher breach scores than scenarios depicting less dangerous clients. The study demonstrated that personal bias may affect professional ethical decision making. Discussion focuses on the need for continued education and self-monitoring in work with highly sensitive and often stigmatized client groups.
Two studies are described. one of 381 university students and the other a statewide survey of 295 adults, both of which examine the relationship between attitudinal support for censorship and political ideologies. Thc results of these studies are interpreted as challenging the view of Suedfeld, Steel, and Schmidt ( I 994) that support for censorship is a function o f both the works in question and the political ideologies ofthe respondents. In both studies we find that s~ipport for censorship is somewhat consistent across messages and images of differing political content. and that support for censorship is generally greater among those with conservative political attitudes, regardless of the content of the works in question. A model ofpglitical attitudes (Maddox & Lilie. 1986) that conceptualizes American political ideologies as consisting of two relatively independent dimensions, rather than a single left-right dimension. is proposed as a more effective means of conceptualizing this issue. Suedfeld, Steel, and Schmidt (1994) argued that attitudinal support for censorship is found in political liberals as well as conservatives. They suggested that political liberals are likely to support the censorship ofpolitically incorrect (i.e., racist, sexist, and homophobic) messages and violent images, just as political conservatives tend to support the censorship of sexually explicit materials (pornography) or works that offend their religious faith or conservative values. Suedfeld et al. (1994) were responding to Hense and Wright (1992), who introduced the Attitudes Toward Censorship Questionnaire (ATCQ) and found that scores on the ATCQ were correlated with authoritarianism, radicalismconservatism, traditional family ideology, and frequency of church attendance. These findings suggested to Hense and Wright that support for censorship was greater among persons with politically conservative attitudes. Suedfeld et a].
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