The Religious Authority of the Orthodox Church and Tolerance Toward Homosexuality

This article considers how institutional differences among Orthodox Churches in Central and Eastern Europe affect mass attitudes about homosexuality. Drawing from literature on elite framing, I posit that the Orthodox Church frames opposition to homosexuality in religious terms and offers cues to its members on how to think about non-traditional sexuality. However, the credibility of religious institutions dictates the influence of framing. When the Church enjoys significant credibility it is able to provoke higher degrees of homonegativity among its members. I illustrate this argument with a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the divergent influence of the Orthodox Church in Romania and Bulgaria.