Objective: Anecdotal narratives and recent qualitative research with Black atheists document experiences of racial identity denial from the target's perspective. However, no research to date has examined whether Black perceivers perceive Black atheists as being weakly identified with their race. Because belief in God is often inextricably linked with Black racial identity in the Black community, we hypothesized that Black atheists would be perceived as less Black than nonatheists. Method: Black/African American adults (n = 343) were randomly assigned to view one of three Black individual's social networking profiles (i.e., a Christian, an atheist, and religion not explicitly mentioned). After, they reported their perceptions of the targets' perceived racial identity and trustworthiness. Results: Black participants, regardless of how strongly they identified racially, perceived a Black Atheist as less racially identified than a Black Christian or someone whose religious affiliation was unknown. Additionally, a Black atheist was perceived as less trustworthy than a Black Christian. Conclusions: Black atheists experience general anti-atheist bias (e.g., perceived as untrustworthy), as well as unique antiatheist bias in the form of racial identity denial. These findings extend previous research on identity denial and intragroup dynamics and advance our understanding of the relationship between religious identification and racial identity denial within the Black community. Public Significance StatementAnecdotal narratives suggest that atheism in the Black community is something that authentically Black people do not do. The results from this study support that notion by finding that Black people perceive Black atheists as being less racially identified compared to Black people who do not identify as atheists. Black atheists in the United States, who are a minority within a minority, face unique anti-atheist bias due to the intersections of their racial and religious identities.
Black Americans post about race and race-related issues on social media more than any other racial group. In this study, we investigated whether Black Americans who post about racism on social networking sites (i.e., Facebook) experience evaluative backlash during the employee selection process. Participants ( N = 154) were given a Black job candidate’s cover letter, resume, and a scanned printout of their social media. Depending on what condition they were randomly assigned to, the applicant’s social media contained posts about racism or posts that were race neutral. Results indicated that Black individuals whose posts were about racism were evaluated less favorably than Black individuals whose posts were race neutral. Specifically, they were perceived as being less likable. In addition, Black individuals whose social media posts were related to racism were less likely to be offered an interview for a job. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Historians, Black liberation theologians, and Black/Pan-African nationalists have long argued that individuals' beliefs regarding Jesus' race are related to their racial attitudes and ideologies that maintain racial hierarchy. In the current study, we examined the relationship between beliefs about Jesus' race, racial attitudes, social dominance orientation (SDO), and colorblind racial ideology (CBRI). We found that individuals who believe Jesus is White were higher in both explicit and subtle forms of anti-Black prejudice (i.e., symbolic racism) and had higher feelings of warmth toward White people than individuals who believe Jesus is non-White. In addition, we found that those who believe Jesus is White, versus non-White, had a higher preference for group-based social hierarchy and were more likely to endorse CBRI. Analyses indicated that SDO and CBRI fully mediated the relationship between believing Jesus is White and explicit anti-Black attitudes. The relationship between believing Jesus is White and subtle anti-Black prejudice was also fully mediated by CBRI. These findings advance research on the relationship between religiosity and prejudice by demonstrating that individuals' racial conceptualizations of religious deities are related to how they feel toward racial groups and the extent to which they endorse ideologies that maintain social hierarchy. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
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