Love Thy Neighbor: Exploring Religious and Social Openness among Prospective Theologians in Germany and Turkey

Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing n openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercu...

Verfasser: Demmrich, Sarah
Ağılkaya-Şahin, Zuhâl
Şenel, Abdulkerim
Dokumenttypen:Artikel
Medientypen:Text
Erscheinungsdatum:2024
Publikation in MIAMI:22.02.2024
Datum der letzten Änderung:22.02.2024
Angaben zur Ausgabe:[Electronic ed.]
Quelle:Religions 15 (2024) 3, 260, 1-18
Schlagwörter:religious openness; prejudice; xenosophia; Muslims; Christian; inter-religious
Fachgebiet (DDC):230: Christentum, Christliche Theologie
297: Islam, Babismus, Bahaismus
Lizenz:CC BY 4.0
Sprache:English
Format:PDF-Dokument
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-17958489842
Weitere Identifikatoren:DOI: 10.17879/17958491314
Permalink:https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-17958489842
Verwandte Dokumente:
  • ist identisch zu:
  • Onlinezugriff:10.3390_rel15030260.pdf

    Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing n openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercultural prejudices, can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge. However, it is acknowledged that theologians themselves may harbor such biases. This study, conducted within the framework of the Religious Openness Hypothesis, employed an online questionnaire among theology students, seen as future multipliers of religiosity, in Germany and Turkey (N = 513) using convenience sampling. The results reveal the consistent relation of religiosity to all forms of prejudice among German Christians, with a linked defense against secularism potentially leading to self-isolation and the protection of their own worldview against religious or cultural outgroups. In contrast, the (generally high) prejudice among Turkish Muslims appears to be rooted not primarily in religiosity or defense against secularism but in fundamentalism and, most likely, in other socio-cultural factors such as politics and education. For both subsamples, religiosity was positively linked with xenosophia, particularly when accounting for fundamentalism. The article concludes by proposing curriculum implications for universities and schools in both cultural contexts.