Bad Samaritans: Religion and Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the United States

Objectives Negative sentiment toward immigrants helps fuel preferences for restrictive immigration policy. Religious commitments have been linked to both positive and negative dispositions toward immigrants, Muslims, and immigration. This study tests how religious factors impact negative sentiments toward immigrants and Muslims, and preferences for more restrictive immigration policy. Methods We analyze data from the 1996 and 2004-2016 General Social Surveys (GSS), examining scales for negative sentiment toward immigrants, civil liberties for Muslims, and preferences to restrict immigration. Ordinary least squares and ordinal regression models are used to examine the effects of religious factors net of social background and political identifications. Results Sectarian Protestants, white Catholics, and biblical literalists were found to have more hostile views of immigrants and Muslims, while nonwhite Catholics, non-Christians, the unaffiliated, and those with secular beliefs held more positive views of immigrants and immigration. Conclusions While elite sectarian Protestants and the Catholic Church hierarchy have urged tolerance for immigrants and immigration, our findings suggest that the sectarians, white Catholics, and biblical literalists hold negative views of immigrants, Muslims, and immigration. Subscription to Christian nationalism also appears to play a role in structuring negative views of immigrants and Muslims.