Religiosity and Support for Killing Animals: A Replication of the Curvilinear Relationship

Abstract The relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward animals is complex: They can relate positively, negatively, or not at all. Lifshin et al. (2018) theorized and found that this relationship may in fact be curvilinear, as moderate levels of religiosity relate to less support for killing animals compared to low religiosity (atheism) or to high religiosity (religious extremism or fundamentalism). In the current research we replicated these findings using re-analyses of self-report data from a similar large sample of American undergraduates (Study 1), and a small-sized lab experiment measuring implicit attitudes (Study 2). Findings supported the hypothesis and suggest that moderate religiosity and belief in God are associated with less negative attitudes toward animals than atheism and disbelief on the one hand, and religious extremism on the other. We discuss the possible implications of these findings for the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals, and support for animal rights.