Flowing Across with Demonic Hate: Belief in Supernatural Evil and Support for Stricter Immigration Policy

Prior research has found that different aspects of religion (such as service attendance and fundamentalism) have significant and varying effects on public attitudes about immigration. We identify an important but understudied aspect of how religion connects to immigration attitudes: beliefs about th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion 2022-06, Vol.61 (2), p.408-432
Main Authors: Martinez, Brandon C., Tom, Joshua C., Baker, Joseph O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Demons
Good & evil
immigration
Immigration policy
politics
Public opinion
Religion
Religiosity
Religious beliefs
religious evil
Satan
Sociodemographics
spiritual warfare
Supernatural
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Summary:Prior research has found that different aspects of religion (such as service attendance and fundamentalism) have significant and varying effects on public attitudes about immigration. We identify an important but understudied aspect of how religion connects to immigration attitudes: beliefs about the reality of supernatural evil (e.g., Satan, hell, and demons). Using a national sample of Americans, we find that greater belief in supernatural evil is a strong and consistent predictor of more restrictive views of immigration, even after controlling for other dimensions of religiosity, sociodemographics, and political characteristics. Overall, beliefs about religious evil are the aspect of religion with the strongest connection to views of immigration. Consequently, consideration of religious evil is integral to understanding how religion influences public attitudes about immigration.
ISSN:0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI:10.1111/jssr.12787