How Supernatural Beliefs Affect Attitudes toward Death Penalty

• In Event: Attitudes toward Capital Punishment

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Capital punishment goes back to the earliest primitive tribes, but in recent decades more than 140 countries have abolished the death penalty. Despite the opposition of many US religious organizations, the majority of Americans’ favor use of death penalty. This study seeks to provide a better understanding of this often contradictory relationship between religion and support for the death penalty. Using data from the 2008 wave of the General Social Survey, the authors explore how spirituality, religiosity, and divinity influence one’s opinion of the death penalty. We also explore how race interacts with these religious concepts, in an attempt to explain why African American’s stance on capital punishment differs from Caucasians, even when they belong to the same denomination. The divergent effects of spirituality, religiosity, and divinity are discussed, as are the differences in predictors of death penalty support by race.

Authors

• Soheil Sabriseilabi, Texas Woman's University

• Paul DC Bones, Texas Woman's University