Shifting Religious Influences on Attitudes Towards Same‐Sex Behavior and Civil Liberties: A Multilevel Across‐Time Analysis

• Published in: Journal for the scientific study of religion Vol. 60; no. 2; pp. 400 - 423
• Main Authors: Moore, Laura M., Adamczyk, Amy, Ryan, J. Michael, Ovadia, Seth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2021
• Subjects: Attitudes; change over time; Civil liberties; Civil rights; contextual effects; Discourses; Equality; Evangelicalism; Freedoms; Minority groups; Morality; Public opinion; Quantitative analysis; Religion; Religious attitudes; Religious participation; Religious right; same‐sex relations; Sexual behavior; sexual minorities; Sexual orientation; Time; Willingness
• ISSN: 0021-8294; 1468-5906
• DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12718

Americans' acceptance of same‐sex sexual relations and their willingness to restrict the civil liberties of sexual minorities vary substantially across both time and place even as overall trends have been towards more liberalizing stances. Yet few quantitative studies have explored both the individual and contextual religious factors shaping Americans' views and none have applied such an analysis to examining attitudes over time. Using hierarchical ordered logistic modeling and time‐year interactions with 1973–2016 General Social Survey data, we examine whether the religious characteristics of residents and the contexts in which they reside moderated Americans' liberalizing attitudes over time. We find that more religiously engaged people, those who belonged to evangelical and Black protestant faiths, as well as those living in areas with higher overall levels of religious attendance changed their moral perspective about same‐sex relations at a lesser rate over time. However, we do not find similar moderating influences of religious factors for explaining Americans' willingness to restrict the civil liberties of individuals identifying as homosexual. We frame these findings relative to the morality and equality discourses permeating the culture and the concerted efforts of the Christian Right to influence public opinion and policy since the 1970s.