Who Believes in a Male God? Ideological Beliefs and Gendered Conceptualizations of God

“Jesus was a White man too!”: The relationship between beliefs about Jesus’s race, racial attitudes, and ideologies that maintain racial hierarchies.

“…The present work examined the relationship between beliefs about Jesus’s race, racial prejudice, and ideologies that maintain racial hierarchies. Based on recent theorizing that racial and gendered representations of deities reflect how people perceive power, ability, status, and hierarchy (Howard et al, 2018; Roberts et al, 2020), we hypothesized that individuals’ racial conceptualizations of Jesus would be related to racial prejudice and ideologies that maintain racial hierarchy. Specifically, we predicted that individuals’ who believe Jesus is White would be higher in racial prejudice and be more likely to endorse ideologies that maintain racial hierarchy than individuals who believe Jesus is non-White.…”

“…More specifically, are individuals’ racial conceptualizations of Jesus associated with other beliefs and attitudes they hold? Social and behavioral scientists in the United States argue that the way individuals conceptualize the divine reflect their explicit and implicit moral and philosophical worldviews (Froese & Bader, 2010; Howard et al, 2018; Heiphetz et al, 2016). Because portrayals of Jesus as White have been theorized as symbols that assist the maintenance and reinforcement of White supremacy 1 (i.e., racial hierarchy; Salter & Haugen, 2017) due to the association of Godliness with Whiteness (Akbar, 1996; Blay, 2011; Howard & Sommers, 2015, Roberts et al, 2020; Williams, 1987), in the current study, we explore whether beliefs about Jesus’s race are related to individuals’ racial attitudes and ideologies that maintain racial hierarchies using a quasi-experimental design.…”

“…This body of work has found that individuals who conceptualize God as a male, relative to other conceptualizations of God, are higher in traditional gender ideology (Whitehead, 2012), have more negative attitudes toward same-sex unions (a threat to traditional gender roles and patriarchal family values; Whitehead, 2014), are more likely to identify as conservative, and less likely to support liberal and egalitarian policies associated with marriage and family (i.e., gay marriage and reproductive choice; Cassese & Holman, 2017). Furthermore, conceptualizing God as a man (vs. some other gendered conception) is associated with favoring conformity to established group norms and values, obedience to group leaders and authorities, and support for harsh, coercive social control (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism, Howard et al, 2018). Recent work has also found that those with masculine conceptualizations of God are also more likely than those with other God concepts (e.g., female, both male and female) to justify the current gender status quo and be higher in both hostile and benevolent sexism (Howard et al, 2020).…”

“…Although the conceptualization of religious deities is related to prejudicial attitudes, the conceptualization of religious deities has also been theorized to be related to ideologies that maintain social hierarchy and oppression (Jost et al, 2014; Howard et al, 2018). As stated earlier, the way individuals conceptualize God and Jesus reflects how they perceive power, ability, status, and hierarchy (Albee & Perry, 1998; Daly, 1973; Klingorová & Havlíček, 2015).…”

Negative Theology Construction in Islamic Education System: An Analytical Study

“…Therefore, there are several studies that examine the relationship between these two domains, such as Stulp et al (2019) in their research which is based on the relationship between the dimensions of religiosity and well-being; or Visala's (2020) research on freedom of action in theological constructs. It is reasonable then, if the divine discourse continues to be studied from the aspect of human spiritual experience, such as Shook's (2013) research; from the aspects of gender and beliefs, such as Howard, et. al.…”