Reexamining the effect of christian denominational affiliation on death penalty support

Despite the fact that numerous Christian denominations in America condemn or condone the death penalty, extant research on the effects of religiosity on citizens’ support for capital punishment has generated ambiguous results of denominational affiliation. This empirical ambiguity may be the result of measurement error. Testing data from the General Social Survey, this study employs a historically and theologically grounded measure of religious tradition affiliation to contrast to past research. Controlling for religious beliefs, religious behaviors, and race, the results indicate that affiliation with any Christian denomination increases the likelihood that an individual will support the death penalty compared to nonreligious individuals. In contrast, members of different Christian religious traditions are no more or less likely to favor capital punishment than other Christian affiliates. ► RELTRAD provides a more valid categorization of religious affiliation than FUND. ► FUND obscures significant differences among affiliates of different Christian denominations in their support for the death penalty. ► Using RELTRAD, we find that affiliates of any Christian religious tradition are more likely to support the death penalty than people who do not affiliate with a denomination. ► Once confounds are controlled through regression, we find that Christian affiliates do not significantly differ among themselves in support for the death penalty.