Betz, Andrea

Congratulations on passing the viva voce examination
on 30 September 2016.

Dissertation topic:
"Interreligious education and prejudice. An empirical study on attitudes towards religious difference."

Doctoral scholarship from the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation (1 October 2013-29 February 2016).

Contact address at the University of Würzburg:
Chair of Religious Education
und Didaktik des Religionsunterrichts
Paradeplatz 4
97070 Würzburg
Tel. 0931/318 3131

Email to Mrs Betz

First supervisor: Prof. Dr Hans-Georg Ziebertz

Second supervisor:

Prof Dr Heinz Reinders (Department of Empirical Educational Research)

Prof Dr Heinz Streib (University of Bielefeld)

Class in the graduate school "Education and Culture"

Doctorate in the graduate school from SS 2012.

Abstract:
This dissertation is a quantitative-empirical study in which attitudes of young adults towards religious difference are analysed on the basis of social science and practical theological findings. Firstly, a comprehensive analysis of attitudes and prejudices towards religious diversity and religious minorities is carried out on the basis of sociological, psychological and religious education approaches. Among other things, the focus will be on prejudices that exist in majority society, the conditions under which they arise and their role in interreligious educational processes.

The concept of the empirical part of the study, in which the evaluation of religious difference by young adults is analysed, is based on the contexts described above. The focus here is on different attitudes towards religious difference on the one hand and on the other, how these are influenced by characteristics of religiosity and the individual's approach to diversity.

At the centre of the study is a measurement instrument on attitudes towards religious difference ("ERD"), which distinguishes between two positive, neutral and negative ERDs. In the analyses (correlation analyses, ANOVA and hierarchical regression analyses), one of the two positive and negative ERDs shows a clear religious profile, while the other is not linked to explicitly religious motives or is linked to them to a much lesser extent. In contrast, there are hardly any correlations between the two neutral attitudes and characteristics of religiosity.
Finally, the diverse results of the empirical analyses are discussed primarily with regard to interreligious educational processes. Among other things, possibilities for a more differentiated approach to the question of attitudes and prejudices are outlined.