Perceptions about fleeing religious persecution and entrance to the US

ABSTRACT

Using four vignettes to study attitudes toward religious persecution, a woman or man aged 22 or 68 came to the US with no supporting documentation. A General Linear Model analysed the 12 items for each vignette. Three items were significant among the vignettes: “All immigration policies and laws should be observed even if it means that M may not be granted permission to stay”; “M’s gender might be an indicator that M wishes to do harm to the US and its citizens” and “M should be deported because s/he entered the country illegally.” Gender and age impact these perceptions.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigration
• religious persecution
• mental health
• religious belief
• compassion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.