Gender gaps in religiosity among Western populations, such that women are more religious than men, are well documented. Previous explanations for these differences range from biological predispositions of risk aversion to patriarchal gender socialization, but all largely overlook the intersection of social statuses. Drawing on theories of intersectionality, we contribute to the cultural and empirical analysis of gender gaps in religiosity by documenting an interactive effect between gender, education, and political views for predicting religious nonaffiliation and infrequent attendance at religious services among Americans. For highly educated political liberals, gender gaps effectively disappear, such that men and women are almost equally likely to be secular (or religious). The results have implications for the long-standing disputes about the gendered “nature” of religiosity and highlight the importance of multiple intersecting statuses and modalities in shaping aggregate patterns of religiosity and secularity.

<p dir="ltr">Exposure to child maltreatment and neglect have lifelong negative impacts (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016; Sheffler et al., 2020; Vig et al., 2020). While there are known risk factors that make a child more likely to experience abuse, there is little examination of the potential influence of parent or caregiver religious beliefs on the perpetration of child maltreatment (Beller et al., 2021; Ellison & Bradshaw, 2009; Rodrigues & Henderson, 2010; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a). The prevalence of religiously related child maltreatment (RRCM) in the United States is unknown, and research has been limited to examinations of outlying Christian groups (Asser & Swan, 1998; Bottoms et al., 2015; Bullis, 1991; Simon et al., 2012; Sinal et al., 2008). However, there are some indications that instances of religiously related child maltreatment have been found to occur in mainstream sects such as Protestant denominations (Bottoms et al., 1995; Bottoms et al., 2015). This dissertation sought to examine how mainstream Protestant Christian parents (Evangelical & Mainline) conceptualized what was harmful or not to children in relation to their religious belief systems. Furthermore, this research examined the potential factors of influence on how Protestant Christian parents perceived child maltreatment and their perceptions of religious exemption applications to children.</p><p dir="ltr">An exploratory qualitative research design was taken to examine these research questions. A total of 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Indiana Protestant Christian parents. Interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019; Braun & Clarke, 2020a, 2020b). Findings indicated that Protestant Christian parents across both denominations considered their religious beliefs to be a positive influence on how they raise their children, in particular, how they modeled showing love without judgment to others. Denominational differences were seen in modeling of love without judgment to marginalized communities. The personal experiences of Protestant Christian parents and their religious beliefs were influential factors on how these parents perceived what was harmful to children. When examining parents' awareness of religious exemption applications to childcare and parenting, most Protestant Christian parents indicated limited awareness. Thematic tensions were present when examining parents’ discussions of the use of religious exemptions for childcare and parenting practices. One tension was the parental right to religious exemption use versus the potential harm that could befall children through the use of such religious exemptions. These findings provide direction for future research to improve understanding of how mainstream Protestant Christian parents conceptualize what is harmful to children and the factors of influence.</p>