Religiosity and Attitudes toward Homosexuality: Views of Ghanaian University Students
Public reaction to homosexuality in Ghana is generally negative. Yet not much is known about Ghanaians’ attitude towards homosexuals. This is happening in an atmosphere in which the Ghanaian is perceived to be highly religious. Because religion and education do influence people’s attitudes and, by e...
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2014
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 25, Pages: 173-201 |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious sociology
B Social sciences B Religionspsycholigie B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft B Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft & Religionswissenschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Public reaction to homosexuality in Ghana is generally negative. Yet not much is known about Ghanaians’ attitude towards homosexuals. This is happening in an atmosphere in which the Ghanaian is perceived to be highly religious. Because religion and education do influence people’s attitudes and, by extension, behavior, it is important to understand the attitudes of Ghanaian university students towards homosexuality. Data for the study came from both quantitative and qualitative sources. The former involved 1,258 respondents from the three leading public universities in the country, including both males and females. The latter covered nine Focus Group Discussions (fgd) of males and females separately and mixed groups of both. Similar to the findings of other studies, we observed that religiosity and religious affiliation of students significantly affected their attitudes. Highly religious respondents expressed more negative attitudes than the not very religious. Respondents who were acquainted with homosexual persons and those who had romantic relationships had positive attitudes towards homosexuals. Findings differed among the universities where the study was conducted but did not significantly differ by gender. Failure to look at people’s attitudes towards gays and lesbians separately may explain the absence of clear differences between male and female reactions. We therefore call for a study to look at gender differences in people’s reaction to gays and lesbians and for a better understanding of the terms homosexuals, gay, and lesbian in the Ghanaian context. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004272385_011 |