A new study in the Journal of Homosexuality has shown that, of all the world’s religions, Buddhism is the least homonegative.

“Homonegativity” is defined as “an aversion to homosexuality as a social practice or way of life.”

Although attitudes toward homosexuality have become more liberal, particularly in industrialized Western countries, there is still a great deal of variance in terms of worldwide levels of homonegativity.

The association between religious affiliation and homonegativity has been hitherto analyzed from two perspectives: on the one hand, from a more moral–philosophical–theological perspective and, on the other hand, from a psychological point of view.

However, a comprehensive assessment of case studies and the implicit comparisons of religions suggest that, in particular, Islam and—although to a lesser extent—Catholicism represent particularly homonegative positions while Buddhism and Hinduism seem to be less homonegative.

The comparison of levels of homonegativity in different countries has shown that there are substantial differences in the attitudes of people toward homosexuality.

The study looked at 79 countries to determine how religion and religiosity affect attitudes to homosexuality. Results indicated that, while religious people are on average more homonegative than non-religious people, Buddhists are the least homonegative.

These findings are similar to those of another study in 2015 by the Public Religion Research Institute. The research looked at 40,000 interviews of people in the US from all sorts of religious persuasions and found that, when it comes to same-sex marriage, “the most supportive major religious groups are Buddhists.”

On Tuesday, April 28, 2015, the above mentioned PRRI report noted that “oral arguments will begin on a group of Supreme Court cases that will determine the legality of same-sex marriage nationwide,” the Public Religion Research Institute has compiled data from their “Americans Values Atlas” on the subject.

Based on 40,000 interviews with people of all sorts of religious persuasions, the Atlas’s findings tell us that, when it comes to same-sex marriage, “the most supportive major religious groups are Buddhists (84 percent).”

[Newsnet Desk]

  Buddhist, homonegative, LGBT, Queer