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Prior research on the effect of religion on prejudicial attitudes against sexual minorities has looked into how religion may influence public attitudes towards homosexual behaviours, gay marriage, and same-sex adoption. However, less is known about how religion may influence employment discrimination against gays in the education industry where prejudice and discrimination against gays frequently occur. Using the 1993-2018 cumulative General Social Survey data merged with county and state-level demographic and religious data of the United States, this study finds that individuals are more likely to favour banning homosexual men from teaching in college when county-level evangelical Protestant homogeneity increases. By contrast, when a county has a higher concentration of Catholics, individuals are less likely to endorse such discriminatory action, regardless of their own individual religious affiliation. This study contributes to a growing trend of research examining religious moral communities beyond its most general form -- the overall church membership rates. Instead, as the results suggest, religious moral communities are multi-dimensional and the extent to which a religion dominates a geographic area may have a broad social impact on the whole community.

ObjectivesDesignResultsConclusionPrior research shows that perceived racism was associated with higher risks of suicidal ideation among US Asians. Nevertheless, the relationship between internalized racism and the suicidal risks of US Asians has not been adequately researched. In addition, as an important social institution, religion has been left out of the studies of racism and suicide for US Asians. This study is aimed at filling in these gaps and contributing to a better understanding of internalized racism, religion, and the mental health of US Asians.This study surveyed 970 Asian or Asian American adults living in the United States. Survey participants were recruited using Qualtrics online panel samples between April and June 2024. Quotas were set for key demographic variables, such as sex and ethnicity, following the national census.The main results suggest that even after controlling important mental health measures such as anxiety and loneliness, higher internalized racism was still tied to higher risks of suicidal ideation. The effect of internalized racism was not only robust but also stronger than other mental health measures as well as perceived external racism. Finally, the deleterious internalized racism effect on suicidal ideation was stronger among US Asians, who attend religious services more often.Internalized racism exerts a fairly strong and robust effect on suicidal ideation among US Asians. This deleterious effect is also interactive with the religious characteristics of US Asians. Healthcare providers, community workers, and religious leaders may want to take internalized racism into consideration in their future service to the US Asian community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that individual religious beliefs and practices are associated with educational outcomes. However, less is known about the manner in which the overall religious cultural influence of a religion can affect an individual's educational aspirations. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county-level variables from the US Census, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), the study shows that a county's higher Jewish population share is associated with a higher level of educational aspirations for the youth, regardless of being Jewish or not. This Jewish contextual effect remains robust even after controlling a wide range of individual and county-level variables, such as individual academic achievement and religious identity. Consistent with the relevant theory and literature, the negative main effect of county-level conservative Protestant population share on educational aspirations is explained by county-level socioeconomic characteristics. The same mechanism is used in part to explain the initially positive relationship between Catholic population share and educational aspirations. Finally, the study highlights the importance of using a multilevel approach to examine and provide understanding of the relationship between religious influence and educational outcomes.

Beliefs in supernatural evils are prevalent among many religions. Prior research has shown that beliefs in supernatural evils were tied to various social and health outcomes. However, much less is known about the political implications of beliefs in supernatural evils. To fill this research void, a national survey of 1,092 adults with oversamples of respondents of Asian or Hispanic heritage was conducted in March 2023. The findings suggest that a stronger belief in demons or evil spirits was associated with more negative views toward President Joe Biden. This demonic effect was robust even after controlling for a variety of religious and sociodemographic variables. Besides being robust, the demonic effect was the strongest among all religiosity measures. In contrast, a main relationship between a stronger belief in demons and greater support for Donald Trump was found. However, this demonic effect was explained by Christian nationalism. Finally, these demonic effects vary based on one's political party identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FK506 Binding Protein (FKBP), ubiquitously present across diverse species, is characterized by its evolutionarily conserved FK506 binding domain (FKBd). In plants, evidence suggests that this gene family plays integral roles in regulating growth, development, and responses to environmental stresses. Notably, research on the identification and functionality of FKBP genes in rice remains limited. Therefore, this study utilized bioinformatic tools to identify 30 FKBP-encoding genes in rice. It provides a detailed analysis of their chromosomal locations, evolutionary relationships with the Arabidopsis thaliana FKBP family, and gene structures. Further analysis of the promoter elements of these rice FKBP genes revealed a high presence of stress-responsive elements. Quantitative PCR assays under drought and heat stress conditions demonstrated that genes OsFKBP15-2, OsFKBP15-3, OsFKBP16-3, OsFKBP18, and OsFKBP42b are inducible by these adverse conditions. These findings suggest a significant role for the rice FKBP gene family in stress adaptation. This research establishes a critical foundation for deeper explorations of the functional roles of the OsFKBP genes in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research found that Christian nationalism, a belief that integrates Christian identity with American national identity, was associated with more negative views toward marginalized groups, such as religious minorities. Relatively less known is the relationship between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward atheists. Specifically, even less is known about whether or not Christian nationalism that is above individuals at the macro, geographic level may influence individual views of atheists. Using nationally representative multilevel data, this study found that higher individual Christian nationalism was associated with more negative views toward atheists. No robust state‐level Christian nationalism influence was found for anti‐atheist attitude. However, Blacks, relative to Whites, were less likely to view atheists negatively in states where Christian nationalism was higher. Meanwhile, in states where Christian nationalism was higher, Black Protestants were less prejudiced against atheists compared to Evangelical Protestants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While prior research has examined the relationship between personal religiosity and porn viewing, little do we know about the overall religious context and its influence on porn viewing. Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion merged with county-level U.S. Census and religious data, this study finds that the higher the county-level conservative Protestant population share, the higher the chances of porn viewing during adolescence. This relationship remains robust even after controlling for a host of individual, peer, family, and county-level variables. Further analyses reveal that within a conservative Protestant religious context, non-conservative Protestant youth are more likely to view porn than their conservative Protestant peers, the gap of which widens when county-level conservative Protestant population share increases. A similar yet stronger religious contextual effect is found for county-level total religious adherence rates: a one unit increase in county-level total religious adherence rates is associated with an increase in the odds of porn viewing by 66.53%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to individual‐level research on religion and marijuana use, much less research has been conducted to investigate how the overall religious context of a geographic location may influence marijuana use during adolescence and early adulthood. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county‐level variables from the U.S. Census and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), this study finds that a county's higher Catholic population share is negatively associated with underage marijuana use frequency even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county‐level variables. Besides being robust, the Catholic contextual effect on marijuana use is also diffusive, influencing both Catholic and non‐Catholic youth who live in the same county. This study highlights the importance of viewing religious influence on substance use as a contextual, cultural force across different kinds of religious moral communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]