| Summary/Abstract |
Most empirical studies report that religious people are less likely to be tolerant in social or political life. This study, however, claims that rather than religiosity per se, adherence to a textualist-traditionalist understanding of Islam, which is based on a literal reading of the sacred texts and a heavy reliance on the tradition, and which generates timeless and absolute standards of good and bad conduct, leads to social intolerance towards members of out-groups. Religious commitment exacerbates intolerance in the case of textualist-traditionalist believers, but not necessarily in the case of non-textualists. These arguments are tested on a sample of the Sunni population from Turkey by using the July 2012 data-set of the KONDA Barometer series. The analysis points to two different mind-sets generating distinct tolerance attitudes.
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