Predicting Religious Ethnocentrism: Evidence for a Partial Mediation Model

This study extended the current understanding of religious ethnocentrism by testing a theoretically and empirically based model in which personality (i. e., right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) and religious identity (i. e., Christian orthodoxy, religious group identification) variables were related to religious ethnocentrism, and some of those relations were mediated through religious fundamentalism. Path analysis results based on a sample of 156 college students revealed support for most of the hypothesized relations. More specifically, social dominance orientation and religious fundamentalism had direct positive relations with religious ethnocentrism; Christian orthodoxy and religious group identification had indirect (via religious fundamentalism) positive relations with religious ethnocentrism, and right-wing authoritarianism had both direct and indirect (via religious fundamentalism) positive relations with religious ethnocentrism. Contrary to our hypothesis, the direct positive relation of Christian orthodoxy to religious ethnocentrism was nonsignificant. Implications of the findings and directions for future research on religious ethnocentrism are discussed.