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Perceptions of religious leaders’ culpability in the United States

The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of religious leaders who are discovered in compromising situations. Respondents (N = 374) read one of four vignettes about a well-known, 50-year-old religious leader who was found in the back of a car by police partially clothed and intoxicated. His accomplice in the back of the parked car was (a) a 19-year-old woman, (b) a 19-year-old man, (c) a 39-year-old woman, or (d) a 39-year-old man. The accomplice in the vehicle told police and the media that s/he had been seeking spiritual counselling from this religious leader. In the General Linear Model (F = 2087.929, df = 34, p < .001) significance was observed in 10 of the 34 items following each of the vignettes. Eight other items possessed p-values slightly larger than 0.05 that merit consideration. Willingness to overlook infractions of professional behaviours were associated not with the religious leader's behaviour itself but with the age and gender of the accomplice of the religious leader. Overall, respondents were more accepting of the behaviours of the religious leader when he was found with a 39-year-old woman than with a 39-year-old man. Respondents were least likely to be understanding of his engaging in sexual behaviours with a 19-year-old adult, particularly a 19-year-old male.