In this paper we report studies in which we investigated the relationship between religious cognition and dehumanization of religious outgroup members. Dehumanization is a key feature of intergroup conflict, and many argue that belief in moralizing gods promotes a distinctly parochial altruism which excludes or even encourages conflict with non-believers. In six studies, five with American Christians and one with Israeli Jews (total N = 1,548), we find that belief in moralizing gods discourages dehumanization of ethno-religious outgroups. Across studies, participants completed measures of dehumanization from their own perspectives and also from the perspective of God, rating the groups’ humanity as they thought God would rate it or wish for them to rate it. When participants completed measures from both their own and God’s perspectives, they reported believing that, compared with their own views, God would see (or prefer for them to see) outgroup members as more human. Results demonstrate that religious believers attribute universalizing moral attitudes to God, compared to themselves, and document how belief in God can promote more positive intergroup attitudes.
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