Images of God and Confidence in Social Institutions
Open Access
- Author:
- Wilson, Samantha E
- Area of Honors:
- Sociology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Roger Kent Finke, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Jeffery Todd Ulmer, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- images of God
confidence
social institutions
organized religion
military - Abstract:
- In recent decades there has been some interesting research emerging concerning images of God, specifically relating to one's perception of God being more judgmental, authoritative, traditional, and formal versus one's perception of God being more merciful, gracious, loving, and informal. Most of the past research has focused on political or social ideology and opinions on specific issues, often yielding significant results, with some research also focusing on generalized trust levels in relation to God images. Past research has looked at how people feel about social/political issues based on how they feel about God. This research looks at how people feel about social/political institutions based on how they feel about God by assessing whether or not there is a relationship between people's perception of God and their level of confidence in some major institutions in the United States. Statistical analyses show that there is a significant relationship between images of God and level of confidence in organized religion, with an image as more authoritative and judgmental being correlated with greater confidence. There is also a relationship between images of God and confidence in the United States military, with an image of a more authoritative and judgmental God being correlated with greater confidence in the military.