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Mediation Of The Religion-Prejudice Link, Aaron R. Dustin

Honors College

Although religious teachings typically recommend prosocial behavior, religiosity is reliably linked to prejudice. This paradoxical relationship raises the question: what is it about religion that might lead to prejudice despite religion’s apparent drive for prosociality? The answer may lie with religious fundamentalism, a particularly rigid way of holding one’s religious beliefs as the single deepest and most certain source of truth. We propose that religious fundamentalism mediates the relationship between religiosity and prejudice. We also seek to explore the influence of three facets of inflexible thinking (belief rigidity, dualism, and inviolacy) on the relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice.

We …