Forgiveness and fundamentalism: Reconsidering the relationship between correctional attitudes and religion

Although research typically has failed to establish a relationship between religious affiliation and correctional attitudes, recent assessments have r evealed that fundamentalist Christians tend to be more punitive than are no nfundamentalists. These strrdies have advanced our understanding considerab ly, but their conceptualization of religion and correctional attitudes has been limited. Using a statewide survey the present study demonstrates that compassionate as well as fundamentalist aspects of religious beliefs are re lated to public correctional preferences. Further, our results reveal that religion influences support for rehabilitation as well as punitiveness. The se findings suggest the need for scholars to think more broadly about the r ole of religion in criminology.