Conservative Christians think LGBT+ progress is an attack, study shows
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • 3 years ago • 83 commentsBy: lilylwakefield (PinkNews - Gay news reviews and comment from the worlds most read lesbian gay bisexual and trans news service)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Lily Wakefield August 29, 2021 Bookmark Article
When conservative Christians were asked to "reflect on their religious values", they "reported an increased level of perceived conflict with LGBT+ people". (NurPhoto via Getty/ Artur Widak)
Anti-LGBT+ conservative Christians in America genuinely believe that progress for LGBT+ rights and representation is an attack on their religion, a study has shown.
Researchers at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, published their findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Through five studies over three years, researchers "examined the causes and consequences of zero-sum beliefs about Christians and LGBT+ individuals".
Clara L Wilkins, principal investigator and associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, said: "Many Christians have come to see themselves as being on the losing side of the culture wars.
"Christians may perceive that an America where same-sex marriage is legal is one in which they have lost their sway and are now victimised.
"This is especially common among conservative Christians, who also are more likely to believe that Christianity is a defining feature of being American.
"As a result, they see themselves as being at odds with LGBT+ individuals, who are perceived as having increasing social influence."
For four of the studies, around "2,000 self-identified, heterosexual, cisgender and predominately white Christian Americans" were surveyed.
Researchers found that conservative Christians tended to believe that reduced bias against LGBT+ people would result in increased bias against Christians.
In one of the studies, when Christians were asked to "reflect on their religious values", they "reported an increased level of perceived conflict with LGBT+ people".
Researchers also found that the zero-sum beliefs of Christians in the study were based on "symbolic threats" rather than realistic ones.
For example, they weren't worried about a real-life threat to their livelihoods, rather a broader threat to "their ability to instil and enforce their notions of Christian values upon society".
In the fifth study, researchers spoke to members of the United Methodist Church (UMC) after the denomination voted in 2019 to uphold a ban on LGBT+ clergy and same-sex marriages.
This study showed that institutions play a huge role in "shaping prejudice", as after the vote, "the relationship between zero-sum beliefs and prejudice became stronger, which suggests that UMC Christians may have felt sanctioned to express their bias because of the institutional decision".
Researchers identified an 'intervention' to help reduce levels of prejudice in conservative Christians
However, the study did provide some light at the end of the tunnel, with researchers proving that "faith communities, clergy and elected officials can harness religious values not for discrimination, but for public virtue and acceptance".
When asked to read a Bible passage about acceptance, fundamentalists did not change their views, but "mainline Christians… were significantly less likely to endorse zero-sum beliefs".
They also reported greater support for same-sex marriage and less prejudice against queer people.
Researchers wrote: "Our data suggests that perceived conflict between groups is not inevitable.
"In fact, we were able to successfully lower the extent to which mainline Christians perceive that LGBT+ gains come at a cost for Christians by having them reflect on biblical acceptance… In other words, we identified an intervention to successfully lower zero-sum beliefs for most Christians."
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It seems that conservative christians feel personally attacked whenever anyone else feels happiness...
I think they're fine with others feeling happiness, as long as it is from the same thing that conservative christians feel happy about. They're fearful that others might find happiness from anything else.
Nowadays, it seems as if they think everything is an attack on their religion. Giving guys rights? An attack. Questioning or challenging their beliefs or claims? That's an attack. Factually stating this country is not a "Christian nation" and that it is secular with a religiously neutral government? You better believe that's an attack. Righlt?
Well said.
I have noticed in a number of contexts that people react this way. If someone else is getting help, sympathy, or some kind of support they hadn’t been getting before, someone else always has to say “what about me?” or they feel like threatened in some way. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that helping or loving someone doesn’t mean you have to ignore or hate someone else.
I remember when the women’s movement was a lot more in the public eye in the 70s, and men would claim they were coming for their jobs, or homes would be ruined. When we say “black lives matter” because historically, they haven’t, white people are all “all lives matter” as if someone is saying that white lives don’t matter. Straight people get mad at LGBT people for having Pride events and they want some kind of straight pride.
These are macro examples, but I see it happen in small ways with smaller groups all the time. Perhaps it’s an impulse of human nature.
Why does it need to be a war? It’s hard to imagine anything less Christian than the strident animosity many churches have for LGBT people. Jesus saw and loved every type of person without conditions. You can bet he wouldn’t be afraid of a gay person the way these fundamentalists are.
I guess they never learned what my mom and dad taught me... Live and let live.
Everything is at such extremes today and there are so many that take joy in fueling that extremism.
I don't find lgtbq Americans asking for and working for equality to be "extreme", though I do find those who demand what they see as their right to continue discriminating against them "extremists". When a gay American says "Hey, I'm just like any other American worthy of fair treatment in work, housing and access to the same benefits of society as any other American" many right wing religious conservatives scream "NO! You're not the same as us and we will fight for our right to keep you out of 'our' workplaces, communities and businesses!". It's very clear who the real "extremists" are, and it's not those who have been historically discriminated against simply asking to be allowed to marry, buy wedding cakes, use public restrooms, apply for jobs, work without the fear of being fired for their sexual orientation or rent homes and apartments. Up until the Supreme court ruled in 2020 there were still 27 States where it was still legal to fire an employee or refuse to rent to them simply because they were gay, fighting to overturn that was not "extreme".
Right-wing evangelicals are looking for conformist (to join their ranks). No thing about a person should stick out of the perceived ordinary.
Live and let live also means allowing Christian believers who hold certain viewpoints on the issue as their religious beliefs to have conscience clause exemptions so that they in the free exercise there of of their beliefs don’t have to express themselves or create things that are in total opposition to said beliefs in their daily lives anywhere anytime including work and owning a business.
Periods are your friend
its all one sentence.
In other words "white privilege" Call a thing what it is Some conservatives want to run around doing whatever the ___ they want, saying whatever the >>> they want behaving the <<< they want All the while condemning and denying liberals fair rights and privileges afforded under the same constitutional system of governance.
Conscience clauses are bullshit
Indeed. It's just an excuse.
Nope it doesn't.
It's this -
"[The] broader threat to "their ability to instil and enforce their notions of Christian values upon society."
A certain segment of conservative wants to enforce their version of Christianity on everyone. It's their way or else The alt+right populists see any attempt to be "inclusive" as a change of "American Culture" as if they get to define such a term.
Excellent comment Tacos. Nobody gives LGBT people pride parades. They do it themselves. If Christians want a rainbow parade why don't they just have one? No one is saying that they can't. Better yet, they could just join in the fun.
[deleted]
What part of the article is not true?
All of it
So... This part?
Or this?
Or this.
Didn't Jesus teach love? And what ever happened to the Golden Rule?
Nobody is trying to tear down their beliefs. Hell, I haven't been to a church burning in years! (that's a joke, guys)
How do gay people threaten Christianity or hetero marriage? Unless it's finally dawned on some of them that they have been living a hypocritical life all these years with their numerous divorces/remarriages and the little something on the side.
“Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.” - Indian philosopher Bara Dada
Apparently in the same way that other faiths have threatened Christianity simply by an alternative existing which is why there have been tens of millions of people killed in religious wars over the last several thousand years.
It's the same reason that my family won't allow my nephews and nieces to have any contact with me after I left their Church, they see my ability to be happy, thrive and prosper without them as an attack on their doctrine of religious control and indoctrination that teaches their members that not living as their brand of faith demands will only lead to sin, heartache, despair and destruction.
Without hypocrisy and double standards their foundations would completely crumble and they know it.
I feel sorry for your family. They will never know you or understand you but that's their choice. All because of religion
My nephews and nieces know of me, they just no doubt have a twisted view of me based on my families lies and deceit all to maintain their religious doctrines and beliefs. They just fear that if they don't demonize me they might lose their grip over their kids lives and I would undermine all the decades of indoctrination. To be fair, they demonize just about anyone who isn't their brand of Christian, especially those who live in California when most of them still live in the same small towns in Ohio and Arkansas.
Being Christians their hypocrisies are forgiven. That is, by Jesus not their wives and families.
They are only forgiven if they ask for forgiveness and then never do it again. And that means asking for forgiveness from the ones they've hurt
HA!
These believers are so fearful of stepping outside of their faith in God that they fail to understand (and accept) that God does not want them to be fearful of God, themselves, or 'others' as a condition of faith!
(If that last above sounds 'twisty' ask me to elaborate and I will!) Smile.
Some of these comments.....*sigh*
It's always interesting to listen to people declare what some group they clearly don't belong to must think.
Oh, really?
Since we have at least one person on here who constantly tells us what God wants us to do and what HE thinks, where do you think we got those ideas?
Yes. Really.
One person. On the internet. That many? Well. In THAT case..........
Far be it from suggest such an overwhelmingly large and well investigated sample should yield anything but absolutely accurate results. Next thing we know, we'll have the crazy idea that Candace Owens doesn't actually represent all black people.
Although I don't know why we should need ol' Candace, my middle-aged white golfing buddies and I can tell you everything you need to know about how black people think.....
Some of these comments.....*My my.*
Also my experience in real life. Does that count? I live in the Bible Belt. I hardly moved into my neighborhood (literally that day) and my neighbor across the street came over and asked us if we had a "church home". First words out of her mouth. Didn't even bring cookies.
Then as we walking around the neighborhood every other neighbor asked the same question. They all belonged to the same church. Has happened to me at work, too. Even when I was in the military
That's my version of Hell.
But my piece of property is my little slice of heaven. I live in the middle of 3 acres surrounded by trees so I don't engage with my neighbors very often
A slice of heaven in the middle of Hell, right?
Exactly!
Are you a conservative Christian?
So why would your real life experience make you any more expert on how conservative Christians think than my real life experience makes me an expert on how black women think?
The horror. First they find out if you already have church that you're happy with, and if you don't....well....before you know it these oppressive fuckers will invite you to an ice-cream social. These people are literally the American version of the Taliban.
How about it ain't none of their Goddamned business! It's considered rude and bad form to ask those kinds of questions where I come from.
And no way would I go to an ice cream social with a bunch of people who need to pray over their ice cream before they eat it
That is accomplished when they tell you to forsake Jesus and follow conscience-less, unscrupulous politicians and their proclivities for sordid gain, guns, and gangsterisms!
Prayer (over ice cream) is not so bad. I mean it could have been impacted by "cooties." (Smile.) Therefore, a little extra focus on the 'cream' could help discern a bit of information about it! It's when they hand you a tithing envelope before, during, or after the social that you need to be concerned about what is/will be funded that counts!
Exactly
I've always been offended when I cook a meal for people and somebody wants to pray over it. Hey! I keep a clean kitchen and won't poison anyone
What's worse is when someone expects me to pray over it. They will be disappointed. "Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub." Lol
Wherever you came from, you're not there now, are you? Are you suggesting that everyone around you should abandon their social customs developed over hundreds of years to accommodate you? Because that's a bit fucked up.
You really, really, really have no clue about how these people think, do you?
I know. It's my house. I don't pray and I will not participate in any prayer someone wants to organize. Pray over your food it you want to, but do it silently and let everyone else eat
Pray over their ice cream before they eat it? Maybe instead, they should wash their hands before they make it. Then they wouldn't need to pray about it.
It's my property. Don't come on MY property and insist I go to YOUR church. I don't expect people to abandon their customs but like I said...IT'S MY HOUSE. Not yours, not theirs, MINE!
I wouldn't come to your house and insist on talking about Satan. You wouldn't like that, would you, especially if I didn't come to debate religion merely to proselytize.
Geez, Jack you're the one that needs to get a fucking clue
LOL! Spoken like a person with detailed knowledge of Infectious Disease Control Measures.
Yeah. Don't you know enjoying ice cream is sinful? Lol
I wouldn't pray even if I were at someone else's house.
Same here.
Agreed.
I will sit or stand quietly while they all pray and not even touch my food, but I will not clasp my hands and close my eyes
Damn, I didn't know. But it makes sense. I've been in a three-way with Ben and Jerry ever since Food Lion had a BOGO sale.
I would do the same. But no more.
Those bastards! LOL!
Somebody loves me. He brought home my favorite Klondike bars last Saturday. I ate the last one last night
When it comes to religion, it seems anything that is "good" or makes one feel good is sinful by default, be it tasty ice cream or good sex or whatever, right?
You heathen! Not only should you pray for forgiveness, but thrown in some "Hail Mary's" to be safe.
Gee that makes me wonder what you would do for a Klondike bar you heathen hell bound sinner!
I might actually get down on my knees.....
Is this the innuendo article?
LOL!
not yet....
To be honest with you, I pray over everything I eat: even when I cook it! You may have heard (I know someone asked it on NT before) of "continuous prayer" - it is par and parcel what a believer does! (To be clear, I have learned to not make a spectacle of myself praying. That is, I murmur my prayers quietly and to myself without a show of folding hands.) Yes, I really do it as a habit!
Again, I understand the unction a believer feels—especially the novice believer to share something good s/he has discovered. However, being pushy or hyper-spiritual can be a turn off and believers need to a 'discerning spirit' to know when to moderate or even 'quit' an endeavor.
One quick note: The prayer over food is for a blessing and a giving of thanks. That is it focuses the mind on food safety and its receipt. Understanding that an unknown can cause great harm and a remembrance of how many go without enough. (Smile.)
Insist?? Really. What exact words were used? I'm fascinated.
You may not realize it, but that's exactly what you're doing.
So when the Girl Scouts come by selling cookies, do you tell them to fuck off? Do you have a water cannon for trick or treaters?
You keep saying "insist".
I think you're misreading the role of church in the Bible Belt. Nobody wants to debate religion. They'll debate college football all day long, but debating religion is generally considered bad manners.
This is about community or "tribe" or whatever the current cool phrase is for a group of people who develop meaningful bonds with each other.
The person you talked to said "church home". The more common phrase is "church family", and they're inviting you to come check theirs out and see what you think.
If you're part of that family, they'll be with you when you need them. They come through when babies are born, when people are sick, when they die, when kids go to college, when they go to jail, or anything in between. They "do life" together.
They ask if you already have a church family because if you do, you don't need theirs and they'll stop inviting you.
Riiiight. I've just been in evangelical Christian churches (conservative and otherwise) for most of my life. WTF could I possibly know about them?
The terms are synonymous, plainly. Interchangeable. And, you need to acknowledge her point that living in the "bible belt" many zealots can be aggressive and overly so when it comes to leading into a new conversation. Or, a 'repeat' conversation. At some point, I even have to shut them down firmly. And I am a true believer.
It would appear that the tone was set in the opening post. Perhaps you should address those questions to the seeder?
Because the article is about 'conservative Christians'.
impasse
thank you
So instead of criticizing others POV, why not 'share' your own about the TOPIC, i.e. the evidence of zero sum mentality of Conservative Christians.
AGAIN, silence ensues.
It's even more interesting to watch people obtusely denying the data collected when surveying a group.
It seems for some people just can't embrace the axom "when someone tells you who they are, believe them".
Please cite my comment about the survey. Do you even attempt to read posts accurately?
I believe Dulay is referring to the fact that YOU totally ignored the data in the article
The seed is about the survey.
You wouldn't start an off topic thread would you Jack?
Silence ensues...
If God likes anyone, it's a wag.