Nothing neutral about belonging: The language and imagery that help and hinder Swiss LGBTQ+ Christians’ feelings of acceptance within churches

IF 1.8 4区社会学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy Pub Date : 2025-04-04 DOI:10.1111/asap.70005

Juan Carlos Hugues, Steven V. Rouse, Joël Billieux

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Abstract

While much research on churches and the LGBTQ+ communities has been done in North America, little research has focused on this topic in Europe. Since 71% of European LGBTQ+ respondents agreed that better acceptance by religious leaders would allow them to live more comfortably as LGBTQ+ people, we investigated the types of messages and imagery that help and hinder Swiss LGBTQ+ Christians’ feelings of acceptance within churches. We also investigated the impact this content had on the feelings of acceptance of Swiss straight Christians. We found that when LGBTQ+ Christians were presented with affirming church messages and imagery, they felt significantly more accepted. Conversely, LGBTQ+ Christians who were presented with non-affirming church messages and imagery felt significantly less accepted. Straight Christians did not evidence significantly more or less feelings of acceptance in either condition, demonstrating affirming church messages and imagery serve as identity safety cues that help LGBTQ+ Christians the most without excluding straight Christians. In a context like Switzerland, where certain churches can be public institutions, institutional churches should consider the impact their messages and imagery have on LGBTQ+ Christians, and the broader LGBTQ+ communities, to cultivate a space of belonging for all.

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归属感不是中立的：帮助和阻碍瑞士LGBTQ+基督徒在教堂内被接受的语言和意象

虽然在北美有很多关于教堂和LGBTQ+社区的研究，但在欧洲很少有研究关注这个话题。由于71%的欧洲LGBTQ+受访者同意宗教领袖对他们的更好接受将使他们作为LGBTQ+人群生活得更舒适，我们调查了帮助和阻碍瑞士LGBTQ+基督徒在教堂内被接受的信息和图像类型。我们还调查了这些内容对瑞士异性恋基督徒接受程度的影响。我们发现，当LGBTQ+基督徒看到肯定的教会信息和图像时，他们明显感到更被接受。相反，LGBTQ+基督徒在看到非肯定的教会信息和图像时，会明显感到不被接受。在这两种情况下，异性恋基督徒都没有表现出明显的或多或少的接受感，这表明肯定教会的信息和图像作为身份安全线索，在不排斥异性恋基督徒的情况下，最有助于LGBTQ+基督徒。在瑞士这样的背景下，某些教会可以成为公共机构，机构教会应该考虑他们的信息和图像对LGBTQ+基督徒以及更广泛的LGBTQ+社区的影响，为所有人创造一个归属感的空间。

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来源期刊

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy Multiple-

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Recent articles in ASAP have examined social psychological methods in the study of economic and social justice including ageism, heterosexism, racism, sexism, status quo bias and other forms of discrimination, social problems such as climate change, extremism, homelessness, inter-group conflict, natural disasters, poverty, and terrorism, and social ideals such as democracy, empowerment, equality, health, and trust.