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Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes towards Sexual and Gender Minorities and Other Marginalized Groups among Religious Leaders in Kenya

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Abstract

Religious fundamentalism is associated with negative perceptions towards outgroups and marginalized populations. However, this association has not been studied in Africa. This study among religious leaders in Kenya established that religious fundamentalism was negatively associated with acceptance of lesbian women and gay men and acceptance of gender diversity and positively associated with social distance towards gay men and social distance towards lesbian women. While religious fundamentalism was positively associated with social distance for sex workers, there was no association with social distance for transgender persons and persons who inject drugs. Future research should explore how bias among religious leaders towards gender and sexual minorities can be reduced while taking religious fundamentalism into account.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) (grant number OR2017-38399; PI: ESRC P425/2018). Sandfort’s contribution has been supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (P30- MH43520; PI: Remien).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kuria,Foundation for Social Enterprise, P.O. Box 50408 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    David Kuria Mbote

  2. St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya

    Esther Mombo, Zablon Bundi Mutongu, Chris Alaro & Anthony Mkutu

  3. HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Theo G. M. Sandfort

Authors
  1. David Kuria Mbote
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  2. Esther Mombo
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  3. Zablon Bundi Mutongu
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  4. Chris Alaro
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  5. Anthony Mkutu
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  6. Theo G. M. Sandfort
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Correspondence to David Kuria Mbote.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Ethical approval for the conduct of the study was obtained from the African Medical and Research Foundation Ethics & Scientific Review Committee.

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Mbote, D.K., Mombo, E., Mutongu, Z.B. et al. Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes towards Sexual and Gender Minorities and Other Marginalized Groups among Religious Leaders in Kenya. Pastoral Psychol 70, 167–178 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-021-00942-9

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