This study presents psychometric results for the initial validation of the Sanctification of Social Justice Scale (SSJS). We conceptualized the sanctification of social justice as how strongly individuals connect working for social justice to an expression of God's will and what it means to be Christian. Across 4 studies including over 1,200 Christian college students, an exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, and convergent validity results all provide psychometric support for the 1-factor 5-item SSJS. This study extends sanctification theory to the previously unexamined domain of working for social justice and provides preliminary validation of a scale for use in research, intervention, and collaboration with Christian individuals and organizations. Limitations and implications for future research and use of the SSJS also are discussed.

The counterspaces framework articulated by Case and Hunter (2012), follows from community psychology's long-standing interest in the potential for settings to promote well-being and liberatory responses to oppression. This framework proposes that certain settings (i.e., "counterspaces") facilitate a specific set of processes that promote the well-being of marginalized groups. We argue that an intersectional analysis is crucial to understand whether and how counterspaces achieve these goals. We draw from literature on safe spaces and present a case study of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (Michfest) to illustrate the value of an intersectional analysis and explore how these processes operate. Based on 20 in-person interviews, 23 responses to an online survey, and ethnographic field notes, we show how Michfest was characterized by a particular intersection of identities at the setting level, and intersectional diversity complicated experiences at the individual level. Moreover, intersectional identities provided opportunities for dialogue and change at the setting level, including the creation of counterspaces within counterspaces. Overall, we demonstrate the need to attend to intersectionality in counterspaces, and more broadly in how we conceptualize settings in community psychology.

Scholars have grappled with how religion in the United States shapes attitudes toward racial inequality, often by focusing on racial inequality as out-group disadvantage. The current study extends this research by moving beyond racial inequality as out-group disadvantage to examine how religious conservatism and sanctification of social justice (i.e., attributing spiritual or religious significance to working for social justice) are associated with attitudes toward racial in-group advantage: white privilege. Using canonical correlation analysis with 475 white Catholic and Protestant students, results showed religious beliefs and white privilege attitudes were connected in two ways: (1) sanctification of social justice was positively associated with a dimension defined by greater willingness to confront white privilege and greater white privilege remorse and awareness and (2) religious conservatism was negatively associated with a dimension defined by greater awareness of white privilege. This shows how religion may facilitate or inhibit awareness and action related to white privilege.

This study investigates Christian campus-ministry groups at public universities to understand how these groups may be associated with students same-sex marriage attitudes. Based on a multilevel modeling analysis with 292 students from 30 such groups, we found the religious tradition of the campus-ministry group moderated how student participation in the group and student religious conservatism were associated with opposition to same-sex marriage. Specifically, greater participation in evangelical Protestant or Catholic campus-ministry groups was positively associated with opposition to same-sex marriage, whereas the association was not significant for students in mainline Protestant groups. Moreover, the association between student religious conservatism and opposition was positive and significant in evangelical Protestant and Catholic groups, but was not significant in mainline Protestant groups. This shows that the association between student religious beliefs and opposition to gay marriage may be different depending on the type of campus-ministry group a student attends. Implications and limitations also are discussed.

The rise of queer and transgender studies has greatly contributed to feminist and lesbian understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality and also has resulted in rifts, tensions, and border wars. One such tension is around the inclusion of trans women in women-only space, such as the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (Michfest). In this ethnophenomenological study, we interviewed and surveyed 43 cisgender women who attended Michfest in 2013. Participants had a variety of perspectives on trans inclusion and on the dialogue surrounding it, and these paralleled intersections, frictions, and tensions between feminism, queer theory, and transgender studies.