Religion
Related: About this forumRich, Catholic Countries Are The Most Accepting Of Gays
Josh Barro/Business Insider, data from Pew Research Center and World Bank
June 5, 2013, 12:36 PM
Josh Barro
Are you gay? If you want to be accepted, your best bet is a rich country full of Catholics.
The Pew Research Center put out a report yesterday on global attitudes about homosexuality, and it shows the link between GDP and acceptance of gays is very strong.
Roughly, an increase in GDP of $620 is good for one percentage point more people agreeing with the statement "homosexuality should be accepted by society." The r-squared value of that correlation is .57, meaning variance in GDP explains about 57 percent of the variance in attitude toward gays.
The other really big driver of attitudes is religion -- but not just overall religiosity. Check out the list of countries where acceptance of gays is at least ten points different than you would predict based on income alone:
http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-catholic-countries-love-the-gays-2013-6
The 26 page report:
http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2013/06/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Homosexuality-Report-FINAL-JUNE-4-2013.pdf
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)it seems that the more comfortable one is, often enough the more tolerant one becomes.
And, whatever anyone wants to think of the Catholic church, central to its mores and teaching are repentance and forgiveness, unlike many of the Protestant churches who prefer to damn as many as they can. Being born into a church that preaches forgiveness overall gives you a much more tolerant view of life.
demosincebirth
(12,549 posts)dbackjon
(6,578 posts)But the leadership, which is violently anti-gay.
Very few Catholics I know agree with the Church's official position on Gay Rights
dimbear
(6,271 posts)Wondering why Protestant nations don't fare well in this survey? Simple. They were left out entirely. Look for the Scandinavian nations all you wish, but in vain.
At least Lutheran Germany puts in an appearance.
rug
(82,333 posts)Page 24
Britain
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Greece
Poland
Czech Republic
Russia
It did not survey all 196 countries.
okasha
(11,573 posts)nt
dimbear
(6,271 posts)okasha
(11,573 posts)both have civil marriage for same-sex couples, they'd seem to fit into the "most tolerant" group.
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)Which, quite frankly, isn't saying much.
Now, how is the correlation between acceptance of gays and percentage of atheists/agnostics? I would like to see such a study.