Relationship between degrees and types of religiosity and social tolerance

Tolerance is among the issues about which very little experimental research has been conducted in the Iranian society. In this study, based on a sample of 335 students, the relationship between degrees and types of religiosity with social tolerance has been examined. The results show that the more religious a person is, the less tolerance they show towards sexual issues, crime and relationship with non-Muslims but that religiosity has no effect on political tolerance, national tolerance and ethnic tolerance. On the other hand, the effect of the type of religiosity  divided in this study into pluralistic, inclusivist and exclusivist  on types of tolerance is more than that of the degree of religiosity. On the whole, the writers conclude, it is not possible to speak of a one-dimensional relationship between religiosity and tolerance; rather, to find out the exact relationship, one should consider types of religiosity and dimensions of tolerance. In the matters where religious norms are specific and explicit, the religious people show less tolerance. Also, compared with the other variables used in this study, type of religiosity was found to be the most basic variable to explain changes of social tolerance.