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If a Close Friend Is from Another Religion, Are You More Open to Other Faiths?

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Enlarging the Scope of Peace Psychology

Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

Dimensions of religiosity were applied to an investigation of close interfaith relationships. Canadian university students in a culturally diverse city (Toronto) were assigned to groups based on whether or not one of their five closest friends belonged to a different religion. There were a number of significant differences between the groups. Those who had a religious outgroup member among their five closest friends were more favourable to religious outgroups on a variety of measures, such as perceived similarity, social distance, and openness to interfaith dating relationships. Additionally, attitudes toward religious outgroups were correlated with dimensions of religiosity, specifically the extrinsic (external reward-oriented) and intrinsic (meaning and purpose) dimensions. Importantly, openness to religious outgroup members was expressed not only toward the religious outgroup of the close friend, but to interfaith relationships more generally. In a second study in a less culturally diverse city (Barrie), having close friends from religious outgroups also predicted favourable interfaith attitudes. Religious outgroup tolerance and acceptance can therefore vary according to close friendship experiences and individual differences in motivations toward religion. Implications for the promotion of peace in diverse societies are described.

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Acknowledgment

This research was partially supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant to the first author.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laurentian University, Barrie, ON, Canada

    Reeshma Haji

  2. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Richard N. Lalonde

Authors
  1. Reeshma Haji
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  2. Richard N. Lalonde
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Correspondence to Reeshma Haji .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Mohamed Seedat

  2. South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, Cape Town, South Africa

    Shahnaaz Suffla

  3. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Daniel J. Christie

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Haji, R., Lalonde, R.N. (2017). If a Close Friend Is from Another Religion, Are You More Open to Other Faiths?. In: Seedat, M., Suffla, S., Christie, D. (eds) Enlarging the Scope of Peace Psychology. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45289-0_6

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