THE EFFECTS OF GOD LANGUAGE ON PERCEIVED ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

Sixty-three participants listened to an audiotape asking them to imagi ne themselves in God's presence. Half: the participants listened to a script in which God was presented as female and half listened to a scr ipt in which God was presented as merle. Half of those in each group l istened to a male narrator and the other half listened to a female nar rator Before and after listening to the script, participants rated the attributes of God on a forced-choice questionnaire. Those to whom God was presented as female were more likely to emphasize God's mercy at posttest whereas those to whom God was presented as male were more lik ely to endorse God's power. Those hearing a male voice describe a fema le God and those hearing a female voice describe a male God reported e njoying the experiment and the audiotape more than those hearing a nar rator describing a God of the same gender. Implications are discussed.