Document Type

Honors Project

First Advisor

Dr. Randy Young

Degree Award Date

Spring 2012

Keywords

Religiosity, Forgiveness, religious conviction

Disciplines

Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Forgiveness is a key element of the monotheistic religions of the world, particularly Christianity. After reading a scenario describing an act of religious vandalism on either a church or a mosque by a transgressor with either internal or external motivations, participants, scored as either "high" or "low" on a religiosity scale, with intrinsic religious motivation as a qualification for "high" religiosity, indicated their level of forgiveness for the transgressor. Results showed that participants who were "high" on the religiosity scale were more forgiving of the transgressor than those ranking "low" on the scale. An interaction of motivation and religiosity on disgust highlights in-group/out-group biases and stereotypes. We also discovered a prevalence of negative stereotypes toward the Islamic community.

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