Although religiosity correlates positively with authoritarianism, the temporal ordering of this relationship is unclear. Because religious teachings often promote authoritarian values, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) should increase following religious conversion. Yet spiritual beliefs may also promote egalitarianism. As such, social dominance orientation (SDO) might decrease postconversion. We tested these hypotheses using data from a subset of participants who converted to Christianity at some point during a 9-year longitudinal panel study (N = 536). We also examined a separate subsample who deconverted over the same period (N = 696). As hypothesised, RWA was stable before conversion, but increased slightly after becoming religious. Unexpectedly, SDO was stable both pre- and postconversion. Conversely, those who deconverted from Christianity experienced declines in RWA both before and after losing their religion, whereas SDO declined only postdeconversion. These results suggest that religious conversion precedes increases in RWA (but not SDO), and that declines in RWA precede deconversion.

尽管宗教信仰与威权主义正相关，但这种关系的时间顺序尚不清楚。因为宗教教义经常宣扬威权价值观，右翼威权主义（RWA）应该随着宗教皈依而增加。然而，精神信仰也可能促进平等主义。因此，社会优势取向 (SDO) 可能会减少转换后的情况。我们使用来自在为期 9 年的纵向小组研究（ N = 536）中某个时候皈依基督教的参与者子集的数据测试了这些假设。我们还检查了一个单独的子样本，该子样本在同一时期（N= 696)。正如假设的那样，RWA 在皈依之前是稳定的，但在信教后略有增加。出乎意料的是，SDO 在转换前和转换后都很稳定。相反，那些脱离基督教的人在失去宗教信仰之前和之后都经历了 RWA 的下降，而 SDO 仅在脱离信仰后下降。这些结果表明，宗教皈依先于 RWA（但不是 SDO）的增加，而 RWA 的下降先于去皈依。