My Friend is Gay, But The Effects of Social Contact on Christian Evangelicals' Beliefs About Gays and Lesbians
This paper examines the relationship between social contact with gays and lesbians and beliefs about homosexuality, and explicitly investigates whether this relationship is different for Christian evangelicals than for others. We find that although social contact with gays and lesbians is related to...
Main Author: | |
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Contributors: | |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage Publications
[2015]
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In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2015, Volume: 57, Issue: 2, Pages: 239-268 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Evangelical movement
/ Homosexuality
/ Social contact
/ Acceptance
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KDG Free church NCF Sexual ethics |
Further subjects: | B
Christians
B Homosexuality B Evangelical B Social contact B Gay and lesbian |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | This paper examines the relationship between social contact with gays and lesbians and beliefs about homosexuality, and explicitly investigates whether this relationship is different for Christian evangelicals than for others. We find that although social contact with gays and lesbians is related to beliefs about homosexuality in ways predicted by social contact theory, those with a gay or lesbian friend hold more positive attitudes, this is not the case for Christian evangelicals. In fact, analyses reveal that the effect of social contact for Christian evangelicals is significantly less than the effect for non-evangelicals. Results suggest that social contact alone is not enough to positively change Christian evangelicals' beliefs about gay and lesbian individuals. This research adds to our knowledge about social contact by providing empirical evidence that all subgroups of the population are not affected equally by social contact with minority groupsan important piece of information for theoretical developments and policy makers. |
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ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s13644-014-0184-z |