Peace through Superior Firepower: Belief in Supernatural Evil and Attitudes Toward U.S. Gun Policy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102595

Commentary

This study examines the social climate and what it says about gun ownership. Guns and gun control continue to be debated in the shifting political climate, and scholars seem to recognize the limited role of religion.

This study was investigating the relationship of one particular aspect of religion to gun policy attitudes. The aspect is the belief in supernatural evil (i.e., the devil/demons, hell, the devil). We then used data from the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey (n = 1572) to test the relevant hypotheses.

Results show that belief in supernatural evil is a strong predictor of support for policies that expand gun rights.

The estimated net effect of belief in supernatural evil withstood statistical control for a host of sociodemographic covariates, political ideology, and most other aspects of religion associated with any of these gun policy attitudes.

Implications and limitations of the study will be discussed, and promising directions for future research on religion and guns will be identified, according to the report.