Volu m e I - Purdue University Calumet

as straight. The Lewis article also addresses the interesting finding that blacks are much more religious than
whites, making them more likely to believe God would punish a marriage between two men or two
women. Lewis writes that his also makes African-Americans more likely to view homosexual marriage as
“always wrong” and are more susceptible to believing AIDS is a form of “God’s Punishment” for
homosexual sodomy. A paper by Brumbaugh, Sanchez, Nock, & Wright (2008) addresses this differnce in
black attitudes, but calls it inconsistent in comparison to more concrete findings with gender dissimilarity
studies. But nevertheles, the team believes blacks are generally more homophobic than whites and , like
Lewis, feel this is largely due to the fact that African-Americans are more relgious.
Church Attendence
Several articles relating to the control variable of church attendance were utilized in this research
paper. Findings by Olson, Cadge, & Harrison (2006) reveal a large supply of relevant scholarly matierial
concerning the effect of church attendence on support for gay marriage. The team believes there is indeed a
“God Gap” in the United States surrounding the issue. The research shows that being a member of a
Christian denomination makes individuals less likely to tolerate same-sex marriage in comparison to secular
individuals. Their study shows those who frequently attend services have the most conservative attitudes,
rendering them closed off from viewing gay marriage as a permissable lifestyle and one that society should
tolerate. The reseach references a study by Cochran and Beeghley (1991) showing that those who attend
church most frequently are highly likely to be Protestant Christians, a branch of Christianity that is far more
conservative than Catholics. Olson, Cadge, & Harrison state that the more one is involved in church, the
more that person will hear sermons that condemn homosexuality and sit through small group sessions on
Sunday where the discussion topics are often focused on rallying the members against supporting gay
marriage. The study also addresses the importance of church friendships. The authors claim that because
frequent church goers are deeply rooted in their church body, those individuals are going to be less likley to
express attitudes showing acceptence of homosexuality and gay rights, choosing instead to structure their
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