PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of interreligious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, Truth of Texts & Teachings (ttt), Fairness, Tolerance & Rational Choice (ftr), and Xenosophia/Interreligious Dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, whereas ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with interreligious prejudice. Results of an analysis of variance using high agreement on ttt, ftr, and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in interreligious prejudice in relation to religious development.