THE IMPACT OF RACE ON DENOMINATIONAL VARIATIONS IN SOCIAL ATTITUDES: THE ISSUE AND ITS DIMENSIONS

Abstract

Although the impact of religious affiliation on social attitudes is a popular research topic in the sociology of religion, few scholars have examined the role that race plays in this relationship. Moreover, studies that do explore the interplay of race and religious affiliation seldom move beyond the general categories of conservative, moderate, and liberal denominational families. Our research uses recent data from the General Social Surveys to compare the social attitudes of African Americans and their white counterparts within established designations of religious affiliation. Along with control variables, we include attitude measures for political tolerance, legalized abortion, gender equality, premarital sex, homosexual lifestyles, and extramarital sexual relations. Our analysis isolates levels of support for these attitudes within categories of race and religious affiliation to determine whether variations emerge and whether they are nested within specific issues, religious denominations, or reflect more general patterns of race differences.

Notes

¹The Sectarian category includes: Evangelical Congregational, Assembly of God, Brethren Church, Brethren, Plymouth, United Brethren, United Brethren in Christ, Christian Disciples, Christ in Christian Union, Christ Church Unity, Christ Adelphians Church of Christ (Evangelical), Church of Christ, Churches of God, Church of God in Christ, Church of God in Christ Holiness, Church of Holiness, Pilgrim Holiness, Nazarene, Pentecostal Assembly of God, Pentecostal, Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, Sanctified, Sanctification, United Holiness, and assorted smaller evangelical and fundamentalist groups. Steensland and colleagues' (2000) codification scheme of denominational classification was considered for this analysis; however, we elected not to use it due to the rather severe limitations it places on (1) the codification of African American religious families and (2) our research interest in the impact of race variations within denominational classifications.

*p < .05 = significant mean differences between African American and white respondents within each denomination.

@p < .05 = significant mean differences for each African American group from the overall African American grand mean.

+p < .05 = significant mean differences for each white group from the overall white grand mean.

*p < .05 = significant within group similarities.

@p < .05 = significant within group differences.

Data were made available via the International Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Ann Arbor, MI. The authors alone are responsible for the analyses and interpretations presented here.